May I apologize publicly for starting this thread? :uhoh:
I had no idea. TRULY or no way I would’ve asked! :eek:
Just that the farm near me growing up was full of ‘big time’ H/J horses and I wondered if it was the same family.
Excellent post.
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
I am pretty sure McL’s paternal grandfather was from New England although I could not confirm MA.
And for the record, McL has matured tremendously since the Aachen incident. Having not been born with ice water in his veins - like some of the other riders - he has had to learn how to remain cool under pressure.
I think he’s mastered it.
I root for the Germans
or anyone over McClain.
Beezie, Laura.
I was seriously rooting For Ian Miller. CApt Canada
9 olympics and nary a medal. And he was always so successful on the circuit. :yes:
I agree that the past is the past and that a certain Canadian rider had his demons too. However, they did not involve horsemanship… Spruce Meadows also banned him from their grounds but had to let him back also because he was part of the Canadian team…
Anyway, both riders were wonderful this week and deserved their medals for this!
Geeze
Geeze - PintoPiaffe - Perhaps we can get this thread closed? I know that you didn’t mean to bring this all up and I was just trying to get you info on Adele and her family and really to get contact information for her.
This is so sad.
Congrats on your rides today, McLain- very very proud of you and the rest of the team!!
Edited to add: Adele’s middle husband’s name was Ward I believe and her third husband was Durden. So the girls are Wards and the boys are Durden. But anyway, too bad that this thread has generated the same old same old…
And, yes, he is a nefarious fellow…When I went there to get a job as a groom in the 70s, Barney was not there and another groom told me basically to leave now, it’s not a good place to work as a young starry-eyed, horse lover teenaged girl. In hindsight, I’m glad I left and went to work for other nefarious individuals
:lol:
[QUOTE=bird4416;3451982]
Don’t know about football but he was definitely the latter. :([/QUOTE]
can you please explain :yes:
Do a search, it should yield plenty of material without opening it up again. heck, it even inspired an episode from Law&Order…
ANYHOW…since McLain also finds himself connected with SWAP/Crossed Sabers…see the trainwreck in Off Course and with the caveat that a lot of people might not even know their affiliation is being claimed…
The guy can ride, o doubt, that makes the other issues all the more sad IMHO
Please, when discussing someone, differentiate who you are talking about - father or son. I think it is time to finish this thread, it is unfortunate but some people just love re-hashing old dirt.
Let’s get back to “feeling Olympian”.
My bad for connecting 2 thought in one post:
A) search the father and you find a number of threads and wrecks about his dealings with horse insurance
B) The Son can ride, no doubt, to bad he has some unpleasant things in his history, puts a shadow on his abilities, IMHO
McLain got hit with FEI discipline about the boots, and after he had served his suspension he was good to go in FEI events. I suppose that’s why the FEI put pressure on Aachen because Aachen runs FEI events.
Makes sense to me. It’s just too bad that any rider at any level would think it’s okay to used studs in jumping boots. Says a lot about what’s important to that rider. :yes:
Sorry I am behind the curve here, but what do you mean by “studded boots”???
I know you’re trying to end all of this, but as a curious bystander, was Papa Ward (Barney) allowed to attend the equestrian events at the Olympics?
I believe he has a lifetime ban at USEF sanctioned events (national organization), but didn’t know if he had any FEI bans that wouldn’t allow him to attend/watch McClain at the Olmpics.
Just curious, if anybody knows.
I believe the FEI honors NF bans, and vice versa.
Back to the original question. . .I believe the Ward clan is originally from Rhode Island. Lots of family still there.
Have to give Mcclain credit for some great rides and that mare!!
WOnder if they know that they ‘donated’ to a never approved ‘charity’? The Wards have ‘donated’ ex jumpers to Second Wind Adoption program at Crossed Sabers. Surely they took tax deductions for the donation of horses though maybe not the $50 Armand ( related not sure exactly how) donated ( listed on an archived website along with his unlisted phone number:eek:) and the $500 of blankets(?) McClain donated- wonder if they KNEW that the program is not 501©3 . Mcclain is also mentioned a lot on the CS website - supposedly an Intern was supposed to go to Mcclain’s for an Internship? or clinic? or something? Fior was ‘donated’ and the adoption fee was listed as $4K, so surely he ‘appraised’ for more.
I remember the uproar about electrocuting horses LONG ago ( make it look like heart attack - there were gruesome details ) for insurance purposes. As far as I know, none of my relatives have done anything immoral or illegal but I guess I wouldn’t just want to be guilty by association if they had. Edited to say: I am talking about the father’s involvement, long ago, in a well known case of horse murder for insurance. I guess what I was trying to say is that because a relative pleaded guilty, does not make Mcclain a bad person. The boots? yikes. that makes me sad.
[QUOTE=Janet;3454228]
I believe the FEI honors NF bans, and vice versa.[/QUOTE]
You are correct (as usual) and he has not been allowed to be by his son’s side at any USEF, FEI, or umbrella organizations recognized equestrian event. That issue was the sole basis for his NY supreme court case in 2000 against the AHSA.
[QUOTE=anuphillbattle;3454245]
I remember the uproar about electrocuting horses LONG ago ( make it look like heart attack - there were gruesome details ) for insurance purposes. As far as I know, none of my relatives have done anything immoral or illegal but I guess I wouldn’t just want to be guilty by association if they had.[/QUOTE]
If you all INSIST on bringing that up, please at least have the courtesy and good sense to distinguish between father and son and stop writing vague allusions so that people who are unfamiliar with the history jump to the wrong conclusions. Seriously, I think some posters should be ashamed of themselves (and should probably race over to the thread in which people are debating whether McLain’s failure to put his hand over his heart during the playing of the National anthem was unpatriotic and disrespectful).
Regardless of how others think or feel about the situation of father or son, I still want to know what “studded boots” are!!:eek:
