Just revolting. Meanwhile George Lindemann Jr. is a “philanthrophist” featured in Architectural Digest. The top hits when you google his name now says so much about our society. Money can’t buy you happiness but it certainly can get you a get out of jail free(ish) card.
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That was not an option for many of those in the know. As evidenced by the willingness to kill horses, burn down barns, and put out hits on people involved this was not something one could easily walk away from and continue showing.
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In addition to the concerns noted by others about one’s own safety…there’s a difference between a) hearing gossip and b) having information that can be provided to authorities and acted upon.
As a kid/young adult on the circuit, I had heard of “the Sandman” but I didn’t know who he or she was, and didn’t know who was hiring him. I really had no information that I could provide other than gossip, and I’m not sure where I would have gone with that information. This was before the internet existed, so figuring out HOW to report this would have been challenging too.
As an adult, I have been very big on speaking up when I’ve seen something of concern. I’ve voluntarily served as a witness in a criminal prosecution when I witnessed the criminal act; I’ve also provided several tips to USADA when I’ve encountered possible doping behavior. My hunch is that I probably act this way as an adult because I experienced this scandal (in a remote way) as a kid. Reporting wrongdoing when I witness it is just who I am now.
But thinking back through it, I really don’t think I could have done anything differently then. Nor could the others who have posted here.
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Well I don’t think everyone turned a blind eye, and as noted, gossip is one thing… But the FBI and Gainesville PD didn’t just stumble on to this, it’s pretty obvious there were people coming to them, saying “hey, I can’t prove this, but something really bad is happening here, you need to look into it.”
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Or at least it will clean up your Google… 
I was in my early 20s and sure, I heard the whispers of what was happening but what could I, as a young groom, be able to do without endangering myself?
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The whole business came up during the investigation into the disappearance of Helen Brock, heiress to the candy fortune. If not for the investigation into her disappearance this would probably have gone on much longer with many more people and horses involved before insurance companies began to ask questions.
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Oh yes, I remember… but still, you know they were getting tips along the way
And that is when I would have put my horses and myself first, and quit showing. Being a dressage rider, training a horse up through the levels, even if you don’t end up showing, can be wonderfully satisfying. That special bond you get with your horse during that process means more to me than getting the chance to show it off to anyone other than my trainer and barn-mates.
YMMV
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I doubt that quitting showing would have done much, other than forcing people to come onto your property to commit heinous deeds as opposed to the handiness of having horses right there at the show.
Your horses don’t have to be at a show to have your barn set on fire.
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Is there really any proof that anyone was willy nilly killing horses that were owned by people who might have gone to the authorities about the horse killings? If that was proven to be true I have to believe that it would have been included in the Netflix episode, because that is really even more messed up than the actual story that has been documented with facts. Who exactly was going to these various barns and killing horses because their owners were going to go to the authorities to turn them in?
I don’t know about that with respect to the horse killings, but Dick McDevitt got his barn burned down because of his work with the anti-drugging rules for what was then AHSA. It’s pretty far down in this article. They also mention some other misdeeds and threats.
I can see people being concerned with that sort of stuff having happened. Also understand that people might not want to piss off someone who has a demonstrated knowledge of killing horses.
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I’m not well versed enough in all the events and how the players interconnected, but I think it wasn’t “just” horses that you’d be afraid of them going after. Look up Silas Jayne.
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Having now watched the Netflix story, it glossed over a lot of the details so that it could tell a self-contained story within the set time limit. My understanding is that the whole Tommy Burns/Barney Ward/George Lindeman Jr/Paul Valliere thing was part of a much larger crime.
As noted above, the start to the whole thing unravelling was the investigation into the disappearance of Helen Brach. It’s believed that she found out about an aspect of the horse killings, and was about to go to the authorities, and that’s why she was “disappeared.”
It’s naïve to characterize competing on the show circuit during this time as equivalent to being at a barn where the horses aren’t treated well.
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As a total tangent, was anyone else really annoyed by how they a) showed video of Henry the Hawk showing indoors in the working hunter division (I think that was Charlie Weaver riding him), while b) using audio clearly from a jumper round?
There is NO SUCH THING as thunderous applause in the middle of a working hunter round at indoors. Someone needs to tell Netflix that.
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Wow, thank you for sharing that article. What a well-lived life, and what a brave man. How shameful that the names of many of those whom he went after for doping are more revered than his own.
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These guys were terrifying and people knew they were capable of horrible acts. People were afraid to confront or turn them in. I can’t blame them.
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Yes, it was Robert. I was riding at the Cheska bros. barn when it all happened. Left afterwards, of course. It was a house that he burned down, IIRC.
Robert has two new barns in Wisconsin now. I believe they’re both named Integrity, FWIW.
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Sent you a PM.
It’s been a while since I read it, so my brain is … unreliable… But I remembered the gist was that Helen Brach learned how she was being swindled by buying all these lame/untalented horse show rejects for mega $$$$, represented as not being lame and probably even talented (thank you Chicago horse mafia), which then led to all the fun and hijinks by said horse mafia, which only then led to the little offshoot of horse killings for insurance payout
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