Very graphic is an understatement. I have seen some $h!t, but I think this video takes the cake. I felt (and still feel) physically ill watching it.
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The whistleblower post takes you to an article, not the post Iād meant to link. Just look for Adam Steffens-Smienkās post on FB.
Given that he asked folks to share, I think itās okay to copy and paste it here.
āāā
Adam Steffens-Smienk
IMPORTANT PLEASE READ & SHARE
Thank you everyone for the 100s of calls and texts over this situation in concern for Sven and our safety.
Yes, my husband Sven was working for Cesar Parra for just under 1 year. Sven was working there under an athlete visa to live in our country. Many of the past employees at this establishment ended up being held hostage by his visa. As soon as possible he was able to exit the situation there, and since Sven has been with me at our paradise, Candoit Stables, where we make horse care our absolute priorityā¦ even over sport. We are so blessed that the Petrik family has blessed us over and over again with not only the ability to be here but the ability to care for horses in the absolute best way possible.
What you see in the released videos is nothing compared to what is happening on a daily basis between Cesar and his groom Jen Mendecia.
Sven, like many past employees Iāve connected with through this process, is receiving therapy for PTSD for what he had to witness there.
We do not condone or support anything that is happening there, and I am doing my best to shed light to this situation.
Dressage is about harmony, communication, and empathy. We need to remember that we all started this initially because we love horses - that comes before sport! As a community we need to be held to a standard, no longer supporting people who give our sport a bad name and drag it down. I think if we can achieve this the sport will sore to new levels!
Kiss your horses for me todayā¦ this has been a very emotional week witnessing what we are all seeing. Iām hoping with all that the information thatās been gathered that we can finally make a difference.
I love you all, and Iām so thankful for our dressage community. Your support to me for this has been overwhelming and bringing me to tears.
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The more I see on this the more disgusted I am. This has been covered up for DECADES. This man was selected to REPRESENT THE UNITED STATES on some of the highest international stages of dressage, AFTER these accusations! People were raising the alarm then (see why this thread even exists) and got brushed aside as rumor starters with malicious intent. While Cesar Parra was torturing horses and his staff. And getting rewarded and protected.
How many others are there out there, where weāve heard rumors about who to stay away from, but nothingās been done? Lord knows Iāve heard some rumors from folks I otherwise trust about some other idols in this sport that Iāve largely chalked up to nonsense or crossed wires. But what if theyāre not? This fellow is largely a has-been on the international stage at this point, and it sounds like folks have known heās awful for years but USEF and FEI just didnāt act. Itās not like anyone was surprised to hear that Helgstrand is a POS. I expect Parra will receive a worse punishment but thatās because he has less money and global influence than Helgstrand.
What are we doing?
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I am beyond disgusted.
I am also just in despair for this āsportā at times and I do not want to refer to myself as a ādressage riderā 
Dramatic, I know, but FFS.
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Is CP scheduled to ride in Wellington this weekend? He will be asked to leave?
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Heās been suspended by the FEI and USEF reciprocates the suspension so heās not eligible to show.
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Too many are closing their eyes and not speaking up. Seems to be changing now. That said, the name calling should stop, and we should permit the system to work.
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The system that protected this for over a decade? The system where TPTB were aware of videos and accusations like whatās been posted, and spoke out with āunwavering supportā (see the article that started this thread) for this man until the social media sh!tstorm became too big to ignore?
Iām sorry, but it beggars belief that in light of gestures broadly all of this, your concern is name-calling.
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Does anyone know who sponsors him? (Product sponsors, not wealthy people who are either clueless or complicit.)
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One thing I donāt understand is in the riding videos, why did those riders tolerate him whipping their horses? How can you just ignore that? This makes me sick to my stomach. He needs to pay big-time.
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Itās on his website, or it was. I took screenshots the other day, letās see if I can figure out how to post them:
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Couldnāt agree more.
Personally I see no problem with āname callingā towards the person responsible for the video I saw of the chestnut horse that was flailing on the ground. Horrific.
I am honestly so gutted. I feel this is going to get brushed over and in 6 months some other shocking videos from some other a$$hole (oh, block your eyes, I called someone a name!) will come out and then the whole cycle repeats itself. Iām not sure what more I can personally do at this point, except share whatās been happening and report this behavior. But Iām all ears for other ideas. Iāve said it 800 times but Iāll say it again - the judging has got to change. How do we get that to happen?
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What are you talking about? I was just answering that the whip is often used by a ground person as an aid when teaching piaffe by lightly tapping. There are several good videos of teaching piaffe in hand in an appropriate manner on YouTube
Use in the manner depicted in these videos is abusive and horrific. Iām the one that shared the videos here.
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There is at least one media outlet that hasnāt played along.
Dressage-News hasnāt covered Parra in the best light for years. The rare articles about him are negative, never positive. The ugly photo of Van the Man used in todayās article is at least 8 years old;
DN could have used a more flattering one, but clearly chose not to.
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Yep. It has more akin to some of the ādancing horseā training you see than dressage. Actually I think the dancing horses sustain less abuse which is saying something.
I think he took the high school work in the pillars to some perverted extreme.
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His sponsors were tagged in the original IG post.
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Where is this person on all this?
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Jen is the āDoctorāsā (he was a dentist in Colombia) head groom.
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There are over 70 pics and videos of abuse.
Oh wait, Iāve never ridden GP so maybe I donāt know what abuse is. (Note sarcasm)
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Is that her in the video of William flailing around, with the ponytail?
If grooms arenāt also competitors, can they be sanctioned at all?
