This attitude, so prevalent in the comments online, just infuriates me. Over and over again I’m reading “it was 30 years ago!”
Thirty years ago Rob Gage was 36 years old. If he was having sexual relationships with his minor clients when he was in his 30s, how is this defensible?
In another post, if you can even follow it, he states that basically the adult trainers were PROPOSITIONED by the children? - the children’s mothers? It’s hard to understand.
Glad for everyone involved in the USA Pentathlon programs that they apparently teamed up with a different coach in recent years. Because this is pretty unreal…
These people on fb saying RG’s only mistake was 30 yrs ago & it was for dating someone a month shy of 18. That to me, sounds like a cover up story to tell colleagues & friends.
Something doesn’t add up. SS wouldn’t give someone a life suspension for that. Let’s be real, here.
Perhaps… he had been sexually abusing this person for years & once she was close to adult age, he felt comfortable being more open about it in public. Also… apparently there was more then one accuser. We don’t know the real story.
But, I do know that victims need to be believed. This victim had nothing to gain by coming forward. And SS, I’m confident did a thorough investigation.
Gaah. I had to resist the urge to print that out, take a blue editor’s pencil to it, and email it to him.
yeah but like, we were doing their moms too. What a great guy…who names the other “hot” guys participating :lol: I mean I’d jokingly say I’m sure those guys really appreciate this “outing” except most probably agree with him, like Hap Hansen, and see nothing wrong with their behaviour or actions. it’s vomit inducing.
How do some of these horse professionals get by in life? Some of the comments make me seriously wonder what is going on behind the scenes in this sport. While Safe Sport isn’t perfect, its far fewer documents and restrictions than required for my daughters dance classes. Get with the times people. And yes, you get ‘benched’ during an investigation - it happens to coaches, teacher, police officers, and just about everyone else.
One of the articles I read about Rob Gage said at least 2 accusations were verified, and a third had come forward. So in their mid thirties (which is around my age now) they were sleeping with girls in age range of 14-17, it is still, really concerning. What possibly, could someone that age have to offer a man of that age, aside from fulfilling some sick fantasy.
If it was a teacher in the news, doing the same thing, riots would be happening. The star struck blinders are disturbing.
And so much about how good looking everyone was. So important when choosing a trainer.
My curiosity got the better of me and I had to look. Holy shit. I can’t even follow the posts - is that even in English? They read like the ravings of a bipolar meth addict.
(except I feel empathy for bipolar meth addicts and hope they get the love and treatment they need. This guy… this guy needs to stay far, far away from me,)
I feel like I said most investigators are going to have an implicit bias…whether they come from law enforcement or academia, etc. Did I say something different? I have problem with people dismissing what happens in academia as irrelevant, and yet it’s a pretty good example of what SafeSport can become. And having investigators with that background makes it more likely.
I agree that having a diverse workforce is always a good thing, from backgrounds as well as other protected classes.
Stupid question: are they enforcing these bans? I know there is a man near me who has a permanent ban and criminal convictions who still runs a boarding barn/lesson barn. I believe he still goes to shows. (I’m out of the hunter jumper world) would someone have to report him to the office for being on the grounds? Or to a steward? I know his farm has stopped running local shows…
Is this documented somewhere? Because that is not what the materials seem to indicate.
Thank you for validating my reaction to the public Facebook posts. I wouldn’t have shined a light on it and directed peoples attention to it except for the fact that he…
WAS THE EQUESTRIAN COACH TO THE USA PENTATHLON TEAM AT THE BEIJING 2008 OLYMPICS.
Just think about that. After reading what’s on Facebook. It’s rather stunning.
Yes, you indicated that everyone has some bias (which is true) but then you immediately pooh poohed academic experience. Yet, as you point out, having a diverse workforce can be positive-- and coming from academia an investigator is going to have difference experience than someone coming from law enforcement. Including potentially having seen flaws in Title 9 processes and/or campus handling of misconduct cases and bringing to SS the lessons learned from both positive and negative experiences in that context. I don’t know why you would automatically assume someone from academia buys into a particular model of how investigations should be handled. Just because you worked for college X that means you’re going to SS and clone the procedure from college X? I wouldn’t draw that conclusion.
I think you also undervalue/underestimate some of the necessary investigative steps/tasks for which an academic background may be more useful than a law enforcement background. We don’t use the same guy to analyze computer code as we do to bust down doors… we need both types at the FBI.
I also think you’re painting “what happens in academia” (and I assume you mean in terms of how they handle campus discipline/sexual assault) with a hugely, hugely broad brush. There are literally thousands of colleges, all handling those issues differently, and to say "“academia” (as if that’s uniform) is “a good example of what SafeSport can before” is to discount a serious amount of nuance. It’s also to discount a MAJOR difference in that there are often government actors in the academic context (i.e. state schools) which is a major difference with SafeSport (as has been pointed out many times, the difference with the USEF context is that there isn’t government action). The applicable law is different.
Look, I too think some colleges have gone off the rails but that doesn’t mean if someone was applying for a job at my office and they had worked in compliance at a particular college I’d think “oh no, we can’t hire that person because they’re just going to come replicate what the college was doing.”
He can still run the farm. He likely can go to local shows. USEF should be enforcing the ban for recognized shows. However like anything in a big organization it comes down to individual show management, how good at they are checking and how much of a spine do they have. If he isn’t signing the entries as trainer they may not know he is on the grounds unless somebody reports him. I would think if he is signing as rider or trainer their software should pick up that he is banned.
The players were eventually cleared and not kicked out of school. Yes it was a scandal, but the facts did come out.
But this is an example of how false (or true) accusations could affect someone’s life with or without Safe Sport. As lawyers, we are taught to be very careful about getting into disputes with clients over fees (when the client doesn’t want to pay) because that gives them a good excuse to run to the Bar and try to find some misconduct to complain about. And there could be a long list of little things that could get you temporarily sanctioned apart from the big transgressions.
I can’t help but think, welcome to the real world, horse people! Of course, since I do some coaching and training part time, maybe I am hyper sensitive to the possible consequences of my actions. My legal code of ethics follows me everywhere in life. So, if I did something that’s commonly complained about here like taking money for training rides that don’t happen, well, that’s the kind of dishonest conduct that could affect my law license. Yet people here just say, yeah that happens sometimes, maybe you should find a new trainer.
Why are we so worried about someone’s reputation who does something heinous? It doesn’t mean they weren’t talented or successful. But if the allegations are well founded, why shouldn’t they be held to the same standard as the rest of the world?
this is in no way meant to be an excuse, but as I’ve said on the boards at other times, a number of these elite (or middling pro) riders have barely been educated in anything beyond the horse world, so a star struck 14 year old is way less likely to make them feel inadequate. There’s a lot of ignorant riders and a lot of insecurity that are not insignificant in driving these encounters. This is not an excuse for being a dumpster fire of a human being, however.
It’s very bizarre. I also found it yet another odd coincidence that he hosts GM clinics routinely, and rode with him in the 60’s as a young rider.
It’s quite a remarkable thing… the public posts revealing how he feels about everything, and the particular connections he has.
FWIW, all Michael Cintas does on FB is rant & rave in tried & true GET OFF MY LAWN fashion. I can’t say anyone has really ever taken him seriously on that platform.
There is a commonality among the age bracket of the loudest voices rallying for Rob. That commonality also includes an absolute dearth of social media savviness. There are certain fatalistic allegories you can apply on your own. They involve shovels and ropes.
It’s not doing anyone any favors, most especially Rob.
On the other side, valid concerns are met with belittlement and absolutely grotesque accusations about siding with pedophiles.
At least McLain had the wherewithal to sit on his thoughts and compose them before spouting off, and I can applaud that. Many, many valid points are being lost in the hysterical delivery coming from both sides.
Logical heads are not likely to wade into this dumpster fire. Let us hope they aren’t also scared off from working towards a solution.
I am not concerned about the guilty. AT.ALL.
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