wow!
The Facebook comments are bleach-worthy. 
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Big yikes here
Not wading into a “side” here, but as it is a temporary suspension, I assume there’s an allegation that is being investigated at this point, based on my understanding of how SafeSport works. Yes?
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100% agree. I’m utterly confused why people conflate rules of a club with due process under the law. We in sport have recognized the power imbalance between student and trainer. We recognize that it can lead to extremely unsavory outcomes. We recognize the need to protect the vulnerable.
The concept of a “vengeful client” utterly befuddles me. I think most anyone on these forums has been in a situation with a trainer that wasn’t healthy or aboveboard. We all just pack up and leave. I have never in my life heard of a client doing something to “get even”. Yeah, sure, I’m going to expose myself to endless harassment online to stick it to some trainer. It just defies all logic.
I’m glad it finally came to light, seeing him at Thermal last week made my stomach turn.
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I heard about it at the very beginning of the year and have been checking the safe sport site ever since. I didn’t say anything to anyone bc I thought it might just be a rumor. A friend of mine at a different barn in CA also talked to me about it last week, so by that point I figured it could very well be true.
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Let me get this straight please. This went on for years? The parents did nothing? She rode on Nations Cup teams? But now that she’s not a junior it needs to be reported?
Wow
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Brava to Maggie Kehring for coming forward and for making her name public to boot. An extraordinarily courageous act on her part.
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Her parents may not have known. She may not have felt confident enough to report it until now. She could have reported it right after the incident. From @greysfordays comments to go on and the article, it sounds like she switched right after she reported it.
All we know right now is that Rich Fellers is temporarily suspended for “misconduct” following an investigation by Safe Sport and the victim’s name. That misconduct could be a lot of things under the Safe Sport code. Maybe wait for more information before jumping to conclusions.
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[oreo_mom]
Let me get this straight please. This went on for years? The parents did nothing? She rode on Nations Cup teams? But now that she’s not a junior it needs to be reported?
Wow
That is seriously your response? That somehow it’s wrong… that the report is only reaching your ears now? Instead of your response being “if a junior was violated, the person who did that is WRONG WRONG WRONG, no matter if it was in the past year or the past 10 years”.
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Don’t feed the troll.
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Rich Fellers’ wife, Shelley, is also suspended. I wonder what the allegation is against her?
Safesport addresses conduct other than sexual conduct–such as bullying. When I first saw the news about the Fellers, I considered that maybe the allegations involved some sort of conduct that was not sexual in nature. However, the victim’s public statement seems to imply that it was. If it is true that Rich Fellers (and/or Shelley?) engaged in sexual misconduct with a girl under 18, that is very shocking and disturbing.
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Mason Phelps is a horrible person.
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It could just be that she was aware of something, whatever that may be, and chose to not come forward about it
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His wife may have been aware of whatever type of misconduct - whether sexual or bullying or whatever - and did nothing to stop it? Who knows. As in all these cases, we don’t have the right to learn all the gory details, only that there is or is not sufficient evidence to impose sanctions.
I did read Maggie’s statement on the subject and she strikes me as a very brave young lady. She didn’t have to identify herself or speak out publicly against the “vengeful client” narrative that people insist on spreading, but I’m glad she did. Hopefully her courage will help other victims.
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? What does Mason have to do with this?
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I would assume facebook comments, since that was the post Fair Judy was responding to. 
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I would say without evidence, that it was bullying. I’ve seen some conduct at Thermal that was questionable, like riding through the pony warmup area when everyone knows its off limits. I can’t see it as sexual especially as Shelley is involved
