Trainer Vick Russell Arrested for Shooting at His Son and Killing a Horse

[Peggy]

I recall the year COTH awarded Bruce Davidson the Horseman of the Year despite him getting busted for enough pot to roll a joint or a few. They discussed the decision in the “from the editor” column at the beginning of the magazine.

[NoSuchPerson]

@Mohan

Do I really need to do a who’s who of equestrians that get trophies medals and arenas named after them who turned out to be complete garbage?

It would be amazing if the winners of these things were good people many of whom who are famous but not in the lime light anymore. But guess what? That’s not reality. Most of the time.

Yes we have our great wholesome horseman, but the list is SHORT.

I challenge your assertion.

The USHJA Lifetime Achievement Award honors members whose lifelong involvement in the sport and the USHJA has benefited the industry. Here is a list of winners. How many of them are, in your opinion, “complete garbage?”

2022: Anne Krusinski & Margie Engle
2021: David Distler and Carleton Brooks
2020: Susan “Sue” Ashe, Walter “Jimmy” Lee and Susan “Susie” Schoellkopf
2019: Margaret “Sissie” Anderton and Brian Flynn
2018: Ralph Caristo and Michael Page
2017: Dianne Johnson and Philip A. DeVita
2016: Chrystine Tauber and Raymond Francis
2015: Butch and Lu Thomas
2014: Sally Ike and Leo Conroy
2013: Betty Oare and Steve Stephens
2012: Pam Baker and Arthur Hawkins
2011: Diana Dodge and Georgine Winslett
2010: Danny Robertshaw and Colonel John Russell
2009: Larry Langer and Joe Fargis
2008: Beth Miner and Alvin Topping

[Mohan]

My comment wasn’t people are trash in this discipline, more Russell won this award despite everything and then shot a horse while maybe aiming for his son. My point is, our hero’s have feet of clay. Not that they aren’t good people. But that they aren’t all that.

I think if we expect perfection we will be disappointed. Yes Russell is clearly a dumpster fire in his personal life. But he is a great horseman. Provided he isn’t drugging horses, whipping and spurring them over the fences, raping minors or killing horses for insurance money I’m okay with the family life being caustic.

[TWilson]

@Peggy

despite him getting busted for enough pot to roll a joint or a few.

That’s really barely any pot at all, even if it was way before anyone even considered the prospect that pot might ever be legal anywhere.

[skydy]

@Mohan

Provided he isn’t drugging horses, whipping and spurring them over the fences, raping minors or killing horses for insurance money I’m okay with the family life being caustic.

I hope I am misconstruing what you said in your post.

You surely can’t mean that you’re good with a man shooting a gun at his son and killing the horse the son was riding, on a farm where kids and clients and their horses were present. "Provided he isn’t drugging horses, whipping and spurring them over the fences, raping minors or killing horses for insurance money I’m okay with the family life being caustic".

“Caustic”? I think caustic is a very mild word for that particular incident. Especially when it seems there were many witnesses (some of them young) to the horror of seeing/hearing gunshots that killed a horse and may well have been aimed at Russell’s son.

[2bayboys]

Can you imagine the chaos and drama in the immediate aftermath of the shooting??!!!

[Sharon]

Bruce Davidson. I remember it was at an airport in another country …as a competitor…I think it was Australia. Not a good look as a representative of your country.

[MHM]

@Sharon

Bruce Davidson. I remember it was at an airport in another country …as a competitor…I think it was Australia. Not a good look as a representative of your country.

No, but certainly not in the same category as other activities that have come to light with some other people over the years.

[trubandloki]

@MHM

Interesting that the New York Times, which is not a horse publication, managed to find out the name of the horse and his job description just by asking somebody. And the article was not even written by their resident horse person.

You might want to note, before you continue to bash the other publications, that there was over 24 hours difference between the COTH article and this article. A lot of information can come out in 24 hours.

[MHM]

I didn’t bash anybody. I made an observation. It seems surprising to me that the actual horse publication would not be the first to identify the horse in question.

Because, you know, it’s primarily a horse related publication.

Edited to add: As of this moment, the Chronicle article still does not contain any further information about the horse, or his age, or his competitive record, which took me about 10 seconds to find on the USEF site after the New York Times article mentioned the horse’s name.

[Prime_Time_Rider]

I started the OP due to the fact that there was NO information on the COTH website. Obviously editorial staff was unaware of the incident until after this information was posted in the forums. To be fair to the COTH, the incident and arrest only received local news media coverage initially. I live in Polk County, so I became aware of it soon after it happen. The COTH article basically just references the information that was in the local news media. It obvious that there was no attempt made to dig deeper, but let’s face it, the COTH isn’t known for its investigative reporting.

[MHM]

@Prime_Time_Rider

let’s face it, the COTH isn’t known for its investigative reporting.

No, I don’t think that’s really their specialty, which is fine. Although they have done some pretty deep dives in the past on serious subjects once in a while.

But in this case, as I say, I’m surprised they did not come up with even the most basic information on the horse in question, since I think that was a pretty obvious subject of interest to just about any horse person who heard about it.

[vxf111]

The identity of the horse just didn’t seem to be the focus of the COTH article. For whatever editorial reason the focus just seemed to be different.

[dags]

@skydy

You surely can’t mean that you’re good with a man shooting a gun at his son and killing the horse the son was riding, on a farm where kids and clients and their horses were present.

Again, this all happened after he received the award. It has no bearing on whether he deserved the award or not. Nobody could have predicted it. We can argue that there were “red flags” but, in regards with what Mohan was attempting to say, a history of shooting horses was not one of them.

The man’s fairly ancient, has resided in the same town basically his whole life?, and has only just received this community honor in the year of our lord 2023. For all we know, they’ve declined him any number of times over the years. For all we know, the other options membership put forward were known horse abusers, or worse.

He’s an old man that can legitimately ride and probably has forgotten more about horses than I’ll ever know. And I don’t doubt he is from a bygone era of minimalist horse keeping where they somehow managed to keep these beasts alive without all the coddling and fancy footing and bemer blankets and smartpaks and so on. There’s been casual mention of some possible dementia/alzheimers setting in elsewhere, and this whole thing - including the entire family dynamic - is damn tragic if you have an ounce of empathy. So no, I’m not gonna bemoan or begrudge a random local horse organization bestowing a “Horseman of the Year” honor upon an aging old man that had been a part of their community for umpteen decades.

[CornishPixie]

@MadTrotter

You’re getting clucked at, but who can deny the appeal? It’s very Southern Gothic….the dynasties, the horses, the elite sport juxtaposed with the seedy behavior, the large personalities, the violence against the prodigal son, the horrific but poetic vision of a horse shot from beneath you.

If this was set in the mountain west on a giant ranch it would make a hit series and could go on for years. Oh wait….

[Bending_Line]

Is this the same or different as the award they used to call the Jimmy Williams Lifetime Achievement Award? To Mohan’s point…

[NoSuchPerson]

Mohan made a broad statement suggesting that nearly everyone who won awards like the CSHHF award were “complete garbage.” That is what I objected to.

We all know about the big name bad apples but that’s a far cry from almost everybody being complete garbage.

[NoSuchPerson]

@Mohan

My comment wasn’t people are trash in this discipline, more Russell won this award despite everything and then shot a horse while maybe aiming for his son. My point is, our hero’s have feet of clay. Not that they aren’t good people. But that they aren’t all that.

But that’s not what you originally said, is it? What you said was:

@Mohan

Do I really need to do a who’s who of equestrians that get trophies medals and arenas named after them who turned out to be complete garbage?

It would be amazing if the winners of these things were good people many of whom who are famous but not in the lime light anymore. But guess what? That’s not reality. Most of the time.

Yes we have our great wholesome horseman, but the list is SHORT.

Bold is mine. What you said, repeatedly, is that most of the equestrians who get trophies, medals, and get arenas named after them are complete garbage, are not good people, and are not great horsemen. That is what I dispute.

[Midge]

Point made, but a different award. This is the local Carolina’s Hall of Fame.

[MadTrotter]

If you are talking about that show with Kevin Costner, isn’t that a western? Not the same vibe. And not a true story. But a possible built in audience.