S.S. is usually pretty prompt. It doesn’t really matter, since he is suspended by USEF and law enforcement is involved.
What I have been trying so clumsily to say, is that every person suspended or listed as ineligible by USEF does not end up on the S.S. list.
All that USEF has on the website is “ineligible” for “General Rule Violation”.
I think you’re referring to Russell Stewart, Sr., and yes, he carried his head tilted to one side. He was AHSA Horseman of the Year, around the time he trained the Bushkins and Cramers. So he’s not related to Vick Russell. But I rode with/worked for RS, and trust me, that situation had its own drama.
Your remembering skills are better then mine, especially since you had personal contact with them and rode hunt seat while I was on the Western side.
The anonymous witness quoted said that not only were there “clients, kids, people everywhere”, but that he was waving the gun around before firing the shots and killing the horse. Wow.
But he was recently named Horseman of the Year at the Carolinas Show Hunter Hall of Fame induction ceremony. How did that happen ??
It’s kind of a known thing that a lot of exceptional horse people are shit shows on a personal level. I imagine if these kinds of awards had a component where billing practices, client exit survey responses, and anonymous employee questionnaires were analyzed, things might look very different.
Another poster said he’d give you his shirt off his back. The h/j horse community in that area must be a large enough group that his “terrible person” reputation was a secret.
Now someone’s horse is dead because of this Horseman of the Year.
It’s sick.
Some of the most famous are also talented at presenting only the bright shiny side to the public while hiding a slimy underbelly.
Thank you. The only Russells I was coming up with with Russell Stewart Sr and his son, Rusty. But I didn’t know about the head tilt thing.
Very true. Too bad the CSHHF missed it.
The Carolina award ceremony took place last month and celebrated his lifetime achievement in the hunter jumper industry. Right after that awards ceremony he competed in an International Hunter Derby.
You would think the Chronicle might have included the horse’s owner.
Why would the Chronicle of the Horse know the identity of the horse’s owner? The news story didn’t identify the owner.
They might have, you know, tried to find out a little more information, given that it is a horse publication.
Maybe they did, and the horse’s owner didn’t want to be named? 
It could have been one of his horses.
I personally know the Russells. A few comments to add:
I was not shocked to hear this whatsoever
Big Vick would give you the shirt off his back, but he is also not the kind of guy (or father figure in this case) that you would want to piss off
The Russells are commonly referred to as “the circus people”, an exact family tree would be hard to pin down. Big Vick has 6 children; with Little Vick, Bill, Lincoln, Clayton, and Tommy-John all being part of the family business at some point, and some run their own businesses now or show series.
Drunken debauchery is more the norm than not with all of them, along with a lot of unexpected small children as a result.
Riding wise, they all have natural feel and are talented, but care wise it is not of a high end AA barn.
There are Russell relatives in CA.
As for what happened that day, apparently Big Vick was arguing with Lincoln and another son, along with one of Lincoln’s sons when this happened. As for their intentions against their dad/granddad legally at this point, I would bet they drop the charges just given the nature of their family, honestly I’m surprised the law got involved at all. They would typically have handled these matters themselves even with the involvement of a gun.
Once again, not shocked. Extremely nice, generous family to most people, but as said above “rough and ready”
I don’t know the specifics of the law in that state but I doubt that the victim is able to drop the charges for this type of felony. I expect the prosecution will proceed regardless of whether or not the intended target will cooperate, especially if there are witnesses.
True. It would be interesting to know either way.
I don’t know them, but the fact that multiple people who do know them have made a similar comment says a lot about the situation.
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