Nobody cares about anything you have to say on the topic of SafeSport.
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It was good to see the fencing team wearing pink masks to protest the situation of the alternate who is accused of sexual assault but was allowed to attend the Games as an alternate. It seems that SafeSport gave him an interim suspension during the investigation but that an arbitrator overturned that and allowed him to go to Tokyo (though he has to stay in a separate hotel because he has a no-contact order). I remain frustrated with the whole situation but at least in fencing these kinds of actions are not being swept under the rug by the other participants. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/22/sports/olympics/olympic-fencer-alec-hadzic-misconduct.html
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That whole situation with the fencer is infuriating. I was ranting to my husband about it the entire time I was doing my SafeSport renewal over the weekend.
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I put this in the Rich Fellers thread too, but here’s a video featuring Maggie and her mom: https://eventingnation.com/thursday-video-she-knew-what-she-was-doing-weridetogether-psa/
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Wow. Those were some pretty sobering statistics from the expert in the video.
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There are no words sufficient to honor these women who speak up. Thank you to them for their power
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I heard today Tom Navarro is taking over the lease of the American Academy of Equestrian Sciences, another lessons barn (focused on teaching kids, they have a summer camp) north of River Chase on Route 15. I’m shocked someone on the SafeSport lifetime ban list continues to expand.
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AMEN!
This man has serious issues with both humans and animals. Enough is enough, already!
Dr. Paul Polster, of Wisconsin, has been added to the Safesport list. He is a registered sex offender, for second degree sexual assault on a child. He is in the American Saddlebred competitions and horse breeding, so he’s not someone anyone would know, unless they were in that segment of the industry.
What the actual F. Seriously.
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I wish SS bans were more noticeable by the general public.
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It wouldn’t surprise me if Tom is taking over the lease at AAES, as his relationship with the (bizarre) owners of his current facility has become strained and they might be looking to sell the property to whomever buys the B&B that used to be part of the parcel. Since AAES is literally, right up the street from where he is now, he could relocate everything in a day or two, if there were no real issues.
Doesn’t AAES have owners with issues as well? I mean… different issues. But issues nonetheless.
The current facility at River Chase COULD be a nice place, with different management, and if someone invested a bit in needed maintenance. If the current owner does sell (that would be a SMART decision in the current market) hopefully it gets bought by someone interested in continuing to use it for equestrian purposes, and doesn’t get turned into yet another housing development.
I would imagine, however, that selling the whole place to a developer is a VERY tempting idea for the current owner… rather than continuing to have a tenant who is a sex offender run a riding school for kids on their property. Just saying…
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I haven’t a clue what’s going on with AAES, so I can’t comment. That place hasn’t discussed in any real capacity for several years now. It is a much more ideal location for residential development, specifically luxury housing (estate McMansions), than River Chase is, as the adjacent parcels have already been developed and it’s right off the main road and in proximity to Leesburg, with the only real cost being the demolition and removal of the facilities and infrastructure. RC and it’s adjacent property would cost about $10 million to acquire, plus you factor in a large wad of money for all the land adjustment and clearing costs and you easily creep up to $15 million or more.
I went by AAES about five years ago, as I was aways driving by it and wanted to see who ran it. The facility is really lovely - a HUGE upgrade from River Chase. The woman who was running it ( or owned it) was German and seemed nice enough. She had a strong lesson program with quite a few school masters.
Does she actually own that facility, or has she leased it for years?
It is a lovely farm and location. As for the instruction there… I’ve heard mixed things. Some positive from friends who had beginner kids attend Camp Koda. But also, some stories from two other local people who are pretty experienced and well connected in the immediate area, and knowledgeable about the ups and downs of a number of local kids’ lesson and coaching options… and those stories were NOT positive.
In other news, River Chase has scrubbed information from their website concerning the names of anyone still working there for Tom Navarro. I wonder if AAES will proudly advertise him as a new manager/instructor there? I wonder if they are even aware that he was banned by SafeSport?
I did a quick peek and it turns out that AAES is up for sale, with an asking price of about $3.85 million. Unless Tommy Boy has a few million laying around, he’s not getting his hands on that place. Marina is a partner in the business that owns it outright.
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Wow… it’s a nice piece of property.
