Did anyone else watch the new show Bad Sport on Netflix and see the episode about the horse insurance killings scandal? There is so much I wasn’t aware of. Wondering if people who were in the sport during that time have any memories of it. I’m also wondering if anyone who was indicted is still involved in our sport or where they ended up?
Wow! Thanks - found it, watching it now. It’s good!
I’m old enough to remember when it was happening. It was horrible. These were some of the most prominent people in the horse world.
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Bit like these days, only the horses are better off. 
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Oh yes. Many memories. I was just out of the juniors and a working student when that all blew up. Some of the people involved were people I talked with at shows and idolized.
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The most disgusting part to me is PV still has a THRIVING lesson and sales business
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And lots of them found a way to stay around.
Not impressed with the Horsey Set’s willingness to hold people accountable. Some 40(?) years later, it seems to be endemic to us.
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Going to watch this now. I remember it vaguely and remember it being referenced in Jody Jaffee’s books!
Yes, some wonderful horses were killed. Henry the Hawk was a great horse. Interestingly, the Oregon trainer recently suspended by Safesport is married to an ex-working student of Paul Valliere’s, and I believe their barn Oz hosted a clinic by Paul some years back, with full knowledge of his exploits. I’d say their moral compass is pretty well non-existent.
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All of us remember those years. Here in Florida you can go to many shows and speak with the people who were involved. The killers, the insurance people, owners of horses who were killed as well as many others who were involved
It’s pretty damn hard to forget.
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Isn’t there a book about it called ‘Sandman’ or something along those lines?
I remember reading about the one they broke it’s leg while ‘loading onto a trailer’ with a baseball bat.
I think most of them were the alligator clips on the ear and the bum, horses were specifically placed in stalls near electrical outlets. Again - this is from a book so unsure if the details are exact.
People are sick.
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Yes, Hot Blood by Ken Englade. And Brach’s body was never found so Bailey and Jayne got off easy…
There were many many layers to the scandals. I had a friend who was riding at the Cheska barn at the time. One of the twins burned down a barn. Awkward…
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This board is old enough that in its early days the prosecution of these individuals and their USEF suspensions were contemporary events.
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Barney Ward tried to sue the AHSA because he thought he should still be allowed to attend shows when he was released. I’m still disgusted that he got so little jail time and Valliere only got probation.
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I’m 40, so this was before my time, I only had a vague understanding of what happened. I started reading the book based on it. I’m less than 15% in and so far Molly Ashe Crawley rode Charisma, the horse George Lindemann had destroyed, and had to testify against him. Also Charlie Jayne’s uncles tried to kill each other? This is all wild!
I had a horse then who was good, but probably not THAT good. He’d never jumped a 1.6 meter course. But I was offered money for him as if he had, and that made me suspicious. I never sold him to anyone.
It’s disgusting that the horse world seems to accept all sorts of immortality and cruelty, over and over.
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There was a Law and Order episode based on these events. So sad that the horses suffered because of human greed.
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They both worked for PV. They reference it in their bios.
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There is also at least one podcast, though it focuses more on Helen Brach. Still interesting listening.
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Here is the episode. Watch it in 1.25 speed (which is the real speed)
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