Farrier reported for abuse 40 years later (Washington Post article)

[Pennywell_Bay]

@farmpony84

I met him when I was 16. He was my farrier until his health forced him to retire a few years ago. In all the years I knew him, he never crossed any lines. I never felt uncomfortable around him.

I would never ever discount any persons claims of sexual abuse, especially coming from the 80’s and 90’s because things were definitely different in the horse world then and I had my own encounters with the male species back then but I just felt the need to say something about the man I knew. He wasn’t the monster from that article.

When I first heard about this I was certain that she didn’t know who the farrier was and they were guessing by which farriers services that area during that time frame but he turned himself in from what I understand. It’s hard to picture him in that light. He was always a gentleman around me.

Your experience is not unique—many predators, whether sexual or otherwise, lead double lives. How often do we hear in the news, “I never would have guessed it! They seemed like such a great neighbor, teacher, or coach”?

I recently had a conversation with a friend on this board about a trainer who was sanctioned by SafeSport, permanently banned from the USEF, and later took his own life. Never in a million years would I have guessed he had been abusing minors. He was defended by a lot of BNTs, who had experienced the “best” of him, and just couldn’t acknowledge that both sides exist.

Predators are often highly skilled at grooming, not just their victims but also the people around them, carefully cultivating an image of normalcy to avoid suspicion. It is something that gets people on their side, because someone who was so nice to me can’t possibly be this monster.

[mroades]

I got run off of a FB back in the day page due to calling out the judge who took me to his hotel room when I was 16. Mind you I thought that was AWESOME at the time.