Stunning news.
Oh crud. Wonder how/if it’ll impact Debbie’s career?
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It allll makes sense now why some of his friends were so crazy defending RG and GM.
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Why does it all make sense ?
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They were all friends with BM, so likely knew. They are against SS as all their friends are being taken out.
Ones in particular; Robert Dover, Bernie Traurig.
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Knew what ???
Perhaps “they” are against SS because they disagree with way it’s implemented; accusations and investigations should be handled in court.
His lifetime ban will affect many people in the dressage industry, especially those at the team level. USET has some work ahead of them.
More info https://www.psdressage.com/u-s-cente…nical-advisor/
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Why would it? She’s not the one banned.
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If you violate the code of conduct in your employee handbook, your employer can:
- discipline you (ie. suspension, etc)
- fire you
- might send evidence to police if it was for something like embezzlement, for the police to handle
If you violate the code of conduct for sport, SafeSport can:
- discipline you (ie. suspension)
- ban you from participation
- refer the case to police for further investigation if required
They are not imposing criminal penalties, therefore they don’t use the court system. I’m not sure how many times we need to go over this. A private organization may prevent someone from participating (assuming they’re not discriminating against a protected class). And, USEF HAS to if SafeSport has.
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I believe DressageD1va is referring to the “aiding and abetting” of a banned member part.
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Criminal accusations can and will be handled in court. Breach of contract / ethics violations related to your your role within a sport get handled by the appropriate sport body, which in this case is SS. Are we still having this discussion?
Minor hockey was rife with sexual predators for many years in Canada, and I assume the US too. They haven’t specified if his charges stem from hockey, Equestrian or both and I guess it doesn’t really matter. I don’t care who he is or who he’s married to - if an investigation has been conducted, concluded, and a verdict reached, then he is facing the consequences. Presumably he had the arbitration option if he feels his case wasn’t handled properly, but let’s remember that a lifetime ban only comes AFTER a detailed investigation is conducted, and, according to SS, is a sanction reserved for the most egregious offences. That pretty much tells me everything I need to know.
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Why does it matter if the husband of the USET’s technical advisor is banned? Doesn’t Debbie MacDonald get to hold her job regardless of who she’s married to?
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Also, isn’t there a possibility of safesport/USEF enforcing the part where USEF members aren’t supposed to be in contact professionally with those on the list? I assume he and Debbie work pretty closely together, and I’m not sure how you can separate the businesses they run together.
It doesn’t seem to explicitly state in the code what to do here. I know that USEF was warning members not to go to clinics with, or get ‘free advice’ from Morris, as many riders were saying they would do, as that was a violation.
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What that would be is, for example, someone pretending to be the lead trainer while the banned person is pulling strings in the background. There are real life examples of a banned person transferring ownership of a gym to a family member but then continuing to work at the gym as the lead coach. That’s what’s disallowed.
But in fact here Debbie McDonald is far more accomplished, and further trains in a different discipline. I can’t see her ditching her dressage clients to take her husband’s clients to hunter shows. There’s no problem with her continuing to train and coach riders.
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If you feel the need to explain it, that’s fine.
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I would think so.
I think it means more will her role as team coach be in jeopardy? She is more than just a teacher. She represents USEF and Dressage for the country in that role.
I sure hope not but it’s scary to imagine.
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Their disciplines are different. I have seen Bob down here in the Boise area giving clinics while Debbie was off in Florida for months at a time. I don’t see how his ban will impact her work at all.
Sheilah
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Why would USET have some work ahead of them? He’s banned by Safe Sport, period.
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USET has very high profile people on their board, and as trustees; Debbie is a member of their large Advisory Committee.
USET provides the support and funding for athletes in the high performance divisions, in partnership with USEF, and is funded by contributions.
USET will need to decide how they want to handle this. Release a statement ? Stay silent ?
Didn’t take them long. 
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/bob-mcdonald-added-to-safesport-suspension-list
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