And legally, very risky.
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REALLY good point.
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I canât imagine their insurance would renew a liability policy knowing they have a convicted sex offender teaching children on the premises.
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Yup, heâs figured out how to continue to make a living in the horse world: Just move to a different equestrian scene, the non-USEF affiliated shows.
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The other thing that is stunning about the guy from an insurance perspective is that he routinely posts photos and videos on the River Chase Instagram of himself riding and jumping with no helmet. There are also photos up of River Chase riders in the indoor all riding with Tom with no helmet as of last fall.
Not smart. Not wise from an insurance standpoint. And an absolutely TERRIBLE example for the lesson kids who come to that place to ride, as they will inevitably think that once they get better and older, they too can be âcoolâ and ride around/jump without a helmet.
I fail to understand how parents still think this is a good place to send their kids for riding instruction.
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I, for one, strongly encourage him to continue his helmetless ways. While the odds are long, if society isnât going to stop him from being around children, Iâm okay with giving Darwin a shot at the problem.
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This has always baffled me as well. Regardless of the sex offender status, if we can put that aside just for a moment, TN and the River Chase/Wulf Crest scene is generally chaotic at best and dangerous at worst. You can witness this at any show they attend. It is baffling that so many riders and parents accept this as normal. They do have quite a bit of turnover, though, so I suppose many do get wise after some time.
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I have to wonder if either River Chase or Wulf Crest is insured, as TN & Sarah both have criminal records.
Iâm just a lowly adult ammy with my own small farm though, so I admittedly donât know how tough it would be to get a commercial general liability policy for a sizeable lesson barn program. But⊠I imagine itâs harder if you are a convicted sex offender, banned for life by SafeSport, regularly post photos of yourself jumping horses without a helmet, and, oh yeah, allow boarders to ride at your farm without wearing helmets.
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I have general liability for a medium sized lesson barn program. Iâve never been asked about personal history, so that might not be a barrier.
There is a box to check that all minors wear a helmet when mounted, but the insurance forms Iâve seen do not specify adults.
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Interesting! Thanks for sharing how the general liability policies work.
Bottomline⊠people really need to do their own homework when it comes to safe barns for kids. There are loopholes in SafeSport that a sex offender could drive a truck and trailer through, and apparently convicted felons can indeed secure general liability policies and coach minors.
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Important to remember too that SafeSport is only keeping record of USEF members who are offenders. There are plenty of horse people who are shady, criminal, etc who are never going to be on the SafeSport radar because theyâre not or have never been USEF members. I know of two lesson barns local to me that are âproblematicâ, one owned by a person who confessed to sexual abuse of a minor and paid out in a civil suit related to that (statute of limitations prevented criminal prosecution) and another owned by a person who served jail time for stealing horses and selling them to slaughter buyers. Neither of these individuals are on the SS list.
Due diligence in selecting a barn is a good idea regardless.
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I went all the way back to post #1 and scanned looking for the actual NAMES of the people being discussed in this thread as potential risks of sexual contact/abuse with minors. And the original subject, who seems to be âDOâ, is not named by anyone in this thread so far. (That I could find.)
What the hell, you guys? Why the eff do we âwarnâ the public but âprotectâ the individual at the same time ??? It isnât 1970 any more.
Parents arenât warned if they donât know the actual name. 
"DO" is Dean Osborne, re this court doc linked in a previous post.
https://casetext.com/case/state-v-osborne-130
"TN" is named in this thread â Tom Navarro.
No idea who âSWâ in Virginia is. But Iâm just interpreting that if heâs referred to by initials only, then he must be some kind of bad news. But if he isnât on the official books somewhere as an offender, then better not to bring him up. (Or ⊠she?)
I get not outing someone who is the subject of rumors but the law and/or Safe Sport have not yet named them. No one wants to launch accusations that turn out to be inaccurate, misplaced or just plain false.
But why the hell would you not name someone who is on a sex offender registry? Who is under sanctions by Safe Sport, or who has LE court action against them? What good is it without the name?
I do not get the game that just uses the initials.
Most people just happening on this info wonât search a thread as I did. If you really want to warn people, use the name. Geez. This name avoidance turns my brain inside out.
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There are names in there somewhere. Thatâs where I got them from to check them, unless things were later edited
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TMâs actual name has been mentioned multiple times so has DOâs name.
No one on this thread is hiding names or barns they are working out of.
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Considering that the whole point of the thread is to spread the word about sex offenders, itâs not too much to ask to take five seconds to type out the names for easier reference.
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Who?
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Navarro was having an affair with the married mother of one of his teenage female students a few years ago. She knew exactly who he was but didnât have a problem with sleeping with him and allowing her daughter to be around him unsupervised, and he used to often comment about what a looker the daughter was. Very similar to what initially got him in trouble up in New York. Some people have shite for brains.
Itâs not like there is a shortage of good, safe barns in the area where kids can ride without a predator lurking around. Some parents really donât care. The number of mini vans that drive into River Chase, throw open the door and dump the kid(s) while barely stopping before heading back out is mind boggling.
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Thatâs what I donât understand: the how and why these types continue to get clients-- clients with kidsâ even when the history is known and there are other competent trainers and coaches nearby. What is the draw? Whatâs the allure of Navarro and others of his ilk?
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Knowing Navarro, he doesnât carry insurance. He never seems to pay his bills. A lot of farriers, feed stores, etc. wonât deal with him except on a cash basis because his checks arenât good.
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A scumbag in every measurable way.
I live in NOVA, and taught a couple of lessons to a student half leasing a horse there; Tom was strutting around and gave me the stink eye - even though I had *no âdesignsâ on his students (the horseâs owner was just a boarder there and not in âtrainingâ with him - and from what I saw, most of the kids didnât have correct seats and rode pretty badly - obviously not THEIR fault), and though I had offered several times to show my instructorâs liability insurance to him, apparently it wasnât necessary 
What a POS. He should be in jail - not teaching kids (his âpreyâ), and making money off unsuspecting, clueless parents. Apparently, he also sucks as an instructor, even worse!
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