Also, if you have a problem with the view expressed in the quoted text, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. Is your position that you DON’t think everyone with any leverage at all needs to do their part? I’m really not clear on your position here and what is so offensive about the text you quoted.
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I just saw the ETA. That’s a great report and suggests to me that RF will indeed have a better response and will be part of the solution here b/c this shows they clearly care.
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Posted by EVENTING NATION on today’s news and Notes:
Before we get to the rest of today’s links , we wanted to address the allegations of abuse lodged against CCI5 rider and Burghley competitor Andrew McConnon this weekend. We will be reporting on this developing story soon, so please know that it is on our radar, there are simply some steps of due diligence we are currently undertaking to ensure we are reporting with integrity. Check back soon.*
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Well done, EN. That’s a great example of good comms. Kudos.
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I’d agree with this. My wife and I provide scholarships but we don’t participate in the selection process. If one of those scholarship winners would go on to commit a heinous crime, it would have nothing to do with us.
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And isn’t the money totally gone from your hands in some sort of trust?
It’s not like you write a check for the scholarship/grant every year…
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But would you have a word with the selection committee to suggest they bolster their selection process?
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This depends entirely on how the grant is structured and whether it’s endowed or not. It’s entirely possible that a check is written every year. Often some portion of the funds goes to that year’s award, and some portion goes toward endowment.
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Good to know. I’ve only dealt with similar when this when it’s been an endowment.
I received similar response from Rebecca Farms. With work week starting, perhaps their PR team will draft a better response, like “while we don’t select recipients, we encourage USEA to review selection processes to ensure doesn’t happen, blah, blah.” I did get a response that Fairfax and Favor sent the info to their marketing team.
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Another story where “so many people knew” and nothing is done about it by the powers that be. Upper level riders afraid to speak out for fear of being labeled “not a team player”. Or maybe afraid to have their own abusive practices exposed.
I firmly believe that this level of horse sport - in any discipline - should not exist if this is what it takes to get there.
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It’s getting a little exhausting correcting what appears at this point to be willful misrepresentation of my posts. So let me clear the air for a final time and anyone who wants to go forward with a goodwill discussion, I’m keen. Anyone who wants to keep attacking me, do your thing, I guess, but why?
I am not 'going after Rebecca Farms.
I did express disappointment in their response.
I did not state or imply they supported AM/participated in the selection process.
I did say they could use suspension of future funding to prompt a better response
from the USEA than individual members and non-members could and that they
should.
I believe we need to call on everyone to step up and do what they can to hold USEA and USEF and FEI accountable for ignoring the reports and evidence of this abuse and, further, funding this person. I believe if we don’t do that as a team - riders, trainers, owners, sponsors, donors, spectators, and fans, we aren’t going to remove this abuse from the sport and the sport will soon be driven from existence.
If you disagree with that, or if you think some of the stakeholders (in this case, donors) do not have that responsibility and shouldn’t step up, then I don’t know what to say to you other than we fundamentally disagree that everyone who can at every level must be part of the solution. Do you fault the sponsors for dropping him?
Given the response up thread about the dog abuse at an RF event, I feel confident that, now that the work week has started in your timezone, RF and their team will, in fact, come out with a different response and use their position as a major donor to help push the orgs to do better. It seems like they must be very upstanding types who genuinely care about animal welfare.
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I’d like to learn more about how he was selected for the developing rider grant.
There are so many good younger horsemen/horsewomen in eventing who need financial support to access key opportunities. How and why was AM selected when it seems QUITE clear that many many people knew he had significant issues…
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He worked under William Fox-Pitt and I’m pretty sure he didn’t do any of this crap while over there otherwise he would have been sent home.
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For those saying WFP wouldn’t have tolerated this, I certainly hope so, but at this point, unless you have been on that team/behind the scenes, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything at the top anymore:( I was so disheartened with CDJ since I thought she was an antithesis to rollkur. I’m less shocked by some abuse at the top in eventing - I was aware of rumors of top riders in the past - it’s such an intense sport at the top, seems to invite wrong priorities, sadly. I do hope the scrutiny of the public eye pushes the governing bodies to do more than they have historically!
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I’ll be purchasing from those who make a statement condemning his abuse, and making a note thanking them in my checkout. I’ll also ask Canter mid-atlantic if they’re still sending him horses.
I’m so disappointed in Andrew. It really put a damper on WFP’s Burghley honor as well.
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It’s enough to make me very paranoid about trainers I personally work with as well even though I’ve never witnessed abuse.
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Yup! I agree.
The area where Andrew lives has a few 5* riders and all of them have some sort of stories from students, workers, vets and farriers about bullying and unethical treatment. Whether it be towards animals or humans, none of it is okay. I’m so tired of seeing fans put these 5* riders on pedestals when it would take them just a couple days in the barns to see the BS they’re full of. I don’t think there are many that aren’t in it for the fame and prestige and that’s when the lines get real blurry.
I watched one of my best friends get put through the ringer for calling out a welfare issue at a 5* barn (not Andrew’s) and before she knew it she was out of a job and everyone turned against her.
In one of Allie’s posts she mentions that when she initially posted about horse abuse but didn’t mention Andrew’s name, she had people messaging her and guessing and the same names came up over and over. That should tell you something right there. Watch who you send your horses to. Watch who you work for. Watch who you train with. Watch who you associate with in the hope of secondhand fame.
Ask yourself one question… is this professional doing this for the love of the horse? If that answer is no, MOVE ON!
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I will never send a horse to a trainer I don’t know VERY well and personally.
Same reason our dogs will never be sent to a professional hunting dog trainer. Way way way too many horror stories.
I’d never forgive myself.
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Unfortunately, there are rumors circulating that the behavior persisted when he was with WFP as well.
Who knows what WFP was aware of. The reality in most larger programs is that assistants and working students do a ton of daily care and basic training, and the top pro often is busy focusing on the top competition horses. Don’t get me wrong, the head of a program should set a tone and expectations concerning daily treatment of horses in the program… that matters. But it seems clear that AM has significant longstanding personality issues underlying this behavior… and it does seem like he has significant impulse control problems. I doubt he could keep that consistently in check for long periods of time in a high pressure environment.
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