What you describe is pretty much how the FEI works with the CAS as well… However for a banned substance the FEI is not nearly as forgiving as USEF. If the FEI B sample tests positive then good luck with the CAS.
You write that the USEF has “done nothing wrong” but from my perspective giving a trainer a two month suspension for showing a horse that tested positive for cocaine is wrong. Very wrong, and after all the “oh we’re going to crack down on doping” rhetoric it is very disappointing.
I am well aware of the USEF reasoning for delayed suspensions but they need to take a look at how foolish their supposedly “new” doping policy looks while they try to increase their membership with the “family friendly” “cracking down on doping” image they want to project. If they think that no parents will hear about the trainer that is showing at WEF who is awaiting their “time off” for giving a horse cocaine, they’re nuts.
Well, to be fair, it made a lot more sense to schedule that suspension to follow the current one before it got temporarily lifted. Rather than have them serve both suspensions at the same time.
And it also made more sense for the cocaine suspension to be 2 months when it was following on the heels of an 18 month extension too. Between the two, that’s nearly 2 years. Pretty (appropriately) harsh.
I don’t think it’s fair to judge what happened with 20/20 hindsight. At the time the cocaine suspension was issued KF had already been suspended for 18 months. Running concurrently would have been equivalent to no suspension. 2 added to 18 was pretty significant in terms of overall length.
This is as good a time to post this question…
So the cocaine suspension was tacked onto the end of KF’s original suspension because it had to be. The original infraction was Feb 2017 when Kodachrome tested positive for the coke in his system at WEF, so in theory she would be suspended for 2 months in Feb 2018 if she did not have the 18 month suspension already. Now that the 18 month suspension has been lifted why can the USE(F) not begin the 2 month suspension in Feb 2018 as it should have begun in the first place for the cocaine in Kodachrome.
This is an entirely separate issue than the GABA issue so they can’t say it’s the USE(F) picking on them, it’s just the USE(F) doing their job as they should…in theory!!
Just my 2 cents!!
Because I don’t think there’s any procedure in place for the USE unilaterally changing the dates of a suspension once it’s been issued. And if they decided to act, absent any procedure to do so in this individual case-- it certainly would give KF an argument that she was being detrimentally treated differently than other members.
If the USE wants to pass a rule saying that they can change the date of a suspension once issued, I suppose they can (I don’t think that’s a terribly good/fair rule personally) but they really can’t start playing by different rules in the middle of a case, randomly.
All of this is fairly atypical. It’s atypical for someone to keep having positive tests again and again. It’s atypical for someone to get a long suspension (like 18 months)-- so long that it would overlap the usual time for other suspensions. It’s atypical for that person to appeal to the USOC. It’s atypical for the USOC to grant a PI. It’s all a fairly unusual case. Which is why we ended up with this cocaine suspension dangling out in the future. Which is weird. But I don’t think this one highly atypical situation justifies the USE throwing out the rulebook and deciding to treat KF differently. They’d just be setting her up for a due process claim if they did that.
How would you like it if you got a suspension. Let’s make it an innocuous one. Stacking NSAIDs and it was a mistake but it happened. They told you your suspension was for a month in March. You made all your plans around that. Usually you don’t show during the winter. But since you’re losing March, you decide to show this January instead, since you’ll have to sit out March. You pay $$$ to ship your horse to Florida and you’re heading out to the ring when the USE calls you and said they changed their mind, the suspension starts now-- not March. It wouldn’t seem very fair, would it? Even if you did what you got suspended for. If you get in trouble you get a punishment and you take that punishment-- but the USE shouldn’t get to change the punishment once it’s issued.
You’re expecting far, far too much from the CoTH cabal on USEF drug policy. “Fairness”? “Due Process”? These words have absolutely no meaning when most here don’t show or have anything at stake and aren’t even USEF members. They ONLY want blood…
VX (and others) have/are explaining how the USEF process works, which some may not know regardless of if they show rated or not. Also injecting some good ole common sense. Saying they are only out for blood ( may or may not be true) when really want the defendants (if found guilty) to get hit hard enough (figuratively) to stop drugging their horses.
Fairness and Due Process have nothing to do with showing or being a USEF member, but maybe more from understand how sanctions are handed down and a reasonable explaination.
And yes, I show rated as does my daughter and my pony. Have been at AA barns my whole life and I’ll tell you I can’t remember an accidental drug infraction at ANY of those high end, high throughput barn,(though I’m sure it happens) and obvious not infraction after infraction.
People are fed up for a reason and you don’t have to show or be a USEF member to be frustrated and appalled (I’m embarrassed this happens time and time again0. I have a dead quiet young pony and people actually ask what I do to make him so quiet. It is disgusting but holy crap- no wonder people ask since sooooo many people get away with it.
“Fairness” and “Due Process” have everything to do with showing or being a USEF member. No non-showing person or non-member is ever going to be subjected to the USEF drug enforcement rules/policies. So what do such persons care if the rules/policies are unfair or lack due process? It’s easy to rant on and on about rules/policies to which one is not subject.
I, too, show in the rated hunter and jumper divisions. I take care to follow the drug rules and have had my horses tested multiple times. It is so disheartening to see people cheat when I, and many others, just want a fair competition. I’ve known many people to give up on the hunter/jumper and move on to something else because they feel that you can’t win unless you have oodles of money and are willing to break the rules.
This KF/LG case is very complicated and we all just want to see justice properly given if they are found guilty or not. The same goes for all other competitors. I would like to have a chance to appeal a drug charge if I felt like my horse had a false positive, but if I did accidentally mix up NSAIDs I should serve my suspension. The shows will still be there when my time is done.
Bent Hickory, not all on this thread may be showing at rated shows but most on here follow or enjoy it on some level and want to see it represented in an ethical, nonabusive manor. For the record, we have been doing rated shows since the 70’s and riding since the 60’s, so have seen many many changes in the sport and so many are not for the best interest of the horse but for the benefit of the trainers and the industry
This part, to me makes NO sense. She was already to be suspended so she already had NO plans to show for 18 months (plus 2 months). I agree with everything you said about this whole ordeal being “atypical,” and I seriously hope they BOTH have their a$$es handed to them in court (but I’m not holding my breath)… but one can still hope, for the horses sake!!!
But now the GABA suspension is suspended and she clearly has plans to show (see the entries). So for the USE to NOW change the dates of the cocaine sanction would result in the hypo I outlined.
