I suspect he can handle it.
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I watched the whole thing and learned a lot. I appreciate the presenterâs patience. He conducted himself well.
Iâm embarrassed for so many of the people who asked questions and canât seem to rub two brain cells together to produce coherent thoughts.
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I watched the whole thing and learned a lot. I appreciate the presenterâs patience. He conducted himself well.
Iâm embarrassed for so many of the people who asked questions and canât seem to rub two brain cells together to produce coherent thoughts.
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Accurate description of what I saw. The âoppositionâ did not distinguish themselves.
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I agree. He did an amazing job.
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There are folks who are always going to believe what they want, no matter how many times they are proven wrong. The leaders of opposition groups want to be seen as right, so they keep saying the same thing over and over so that someone will start to believe them. Proves that we should have had helmet rules a long time agoâŠ
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ActuallyâŠ
The room was jam packed with members who were paying very close attention. There was just a handful of people who asked questions. Or probably no more than a dozen, anyway.
That was what I meant by âa poor representationâ. The questions posed were a poor representation, not the attendance.
There did seem to be plenty of people in attendance and that is something for which we can be grateful. :yes:
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I didnât do a headcount, but at the start, the room was very full with people standing along the back three walls. A few people left after an hour or so, but I would guess they had to leave to make their travel plans. Most people stayed from start to finish.
And many people stayed afterwards to ask him questions one at a time.
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It would be helpful for those of us who were watching the live stream if you would share your thoughts and impressions of the Safe Sport discussion when you have the time. Iâm sure itâs been a long day.
The reaction and thoughts of the people that were not asking questions are not apparent to me (obviously since I wasnât there.)
Though we did hear the laughter after some of the ignorant repetition of questions that had already been answered, we had no way to get the feeling of the crowd.
In general of course. Not asking for quotes, but for your read of the room, so to speak.
It is nice to hear that questions continued. Mr. Henry is a good sport it seems.
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Iâm just about to board the redeye home, but I will check back in tomorrow at some point with more details. I would say most of the people in the room gave him their full attention. There were some people who obviously had their minds made up before they ever walked in the door, but that seemed like a relatively small percentage of the group.
I was impressed with the amount of information he conveyed, and his patience and willingness to cover the same ground over and over again in response to repeat questions.
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Thanks MHM. Safe trip home. 
Thank you.
Agree with MHM. The mood of the room was pretty open and positive until the questions. People were listening intently and many of us were taking notes and pictures of the slides. I thought Mr. Henry came across as honest and willing to listen and have a conversation. He did mention in his remarks that he was covering areas which people had questioned prior to the meeting.
One of his statements should have shut everyone up. He said reasons people were getting permanent ineligibility included those who had digital penetration of 11 year olds and sodomy with 14 year olds. Doesnât that make everyone stop and think??!! And he did say that they were getting reports of sexual abuse that most people wouldnât believe - but that it was happening. I really think that most people have no idea what a perverted mind can do to another human being.
I had to leave about 6:20 so I missed the last few questions and Mr Moroneyâs remarks. Iâm hoping to be able to hear that later. I did find the initial questions to be what I expected. Why arenât you telling us all the details so we can tell you youâre wrong. He was very polite in saying thatâs not how it works, he wouldnât give any specifics, and that the center really has self correcting policies in place.
I realize there are those folks who will never believe that this kind of abuse happens in our sport and that no one should ever be permanently ineligible to participate. But the reality is that is has happened, it will happen again, and everyone has allowed it to occur. We all need to stand up and stare down the bullies and put some ethics back into the horse world.
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I am pleased with both Michael Henryâs presentation and the feedback recieved from those in the room. In addition to accepting questions online, we sent many questions of our own so that they could be incorporated into the talk. Our goal was for people to receive the widest and most detailed information possible.
I thought that it was a positive, informative and insightful presentation. I believe many in the room felt the same way. As has been noted earlier, some questions came from those who did not listen to understand.
Not all people agree that it was a good session and they have contacted me with their feedback which falls in the category of âhe is lyingâ, âhe is spinning thingsâ and âhe is not trustworthyâ.
I struggle with their point of view.
Let us all hope that our world becomes safer for all but especially for children. The statistics presented were gut wrenching.
Mary Babick
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I thought it was wonderful and so glad there was a live stream. Thank you.
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Yeah. That came about as close to talking about individual cases as is possible.
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I also thought he had an excellent response to the question about the need for temporary suspensions. He replied to the person who asked that question, what if we investigated someone without suspending him, and in the interim he abused your daughter or granddaughter? Really, there is not much of a viable reply to that one.
Anyone who was not able to watch it live should really take the time to view it on demand. He really laid out the process so clearly that I think it makes the whole thing much easier to understand. Huge props to everybody involved.
Tackpud, I wish I had known there was a fellow BBâer there! Maybe we can meet up next time.
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I thought the presentation was excellent. I am grateful to the organizers and presenters. Yes, there was a lot of repetition, and I think that was necessary. Much of the battle against Safe Sport has focused on repeating and spreading misinformation, so it is important for all of usânot just people like the presenterâto reasonably voice corrections every time misinformation comes up.
@ponyflyer, I am so glad that our leadership is standing behind Safe Sport. Thank you for posting here.
I took a quick check of social media after the presentation and there are indeed some very unfortunate people calling the presenter a liar and making personal attacks against him. Anyone who can read and who has an internet connection can easily fact check that the presenter spoke correctly and that Safe Sport does not charge fees.
However, it is worth repeating that the independent arbitrators involved in the process are independent from Safe Sport and charge their own fees. So Any time a respondent (accused person) wishes to go to arbitration there is a fee involved to pay for that outside service. There are two times an accused person can go to arbitration. First, if temporary measures are imposed an accused person can choose to fight those measures via a temporary measures hearing with an independent arbitrator. Secondly after a final ruling is issued by Safe Sport, then a person can choose to dispute that ruling via arbitration.
The fees for arbitration are not exorbitant, and Safe Sport offers hardship exemptions for both hearings if a person qualifies. Additionally, at the end of the day if a Safe Sport violation is not found in the final decision reached via arbitration, âthe Center shall reimburse the Respondent for all arbitration fees and expenses paid to the arbitration bodyâŠâ
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Thanks Mary! I did appreciate that he was responding to feedback during his talk and that he really seemed tuned into what the equestrian world has been questioning.
I am appalled that people continue to believe their warped versions of SS and accuse Mr. Henry of being dishonest and untrustworthy. I found him incredibly truthful and more than upfront about what a challenging process this is for SS. It is sad to realize that we have needed this oversight for so long that the center is overwhelmed by reports in the two years it has been in operation. We have failed the children in our sport in the past and it is up to us to save them going forward.
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