Yet another delightful rider..... not..... when will this end?

If this is how he treats his poor horses in public - with the very real possibility of someone with a camera around - then I dread to think what goes on in indoor schools out of sight.........

That poor poor horse. Obviously very green; but he just didn't present it properly, then when it all goes t!ts up, what does he do but go slapping it around the head.

Words just fail me, they really do.
 
Beausmate said:
This is what happens when horses are seen as expensive sports equipment and money is all that really matters.

Although, there's a lot of money in racing and a UK-based trainer would lose their licence for abusing horses like that. But then, the BHA are way more switched on to the SLO than the FEI etc.
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Non-horsey people follow racing and surveys have already suggested that they're much more critical of perceived poor welfare than horse people. That's not great for horses of course and completely crazy when you think about it - how inured most horse people are to dodgy and non-horse-centred practices even when they know full well they're going on.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
If this is how he treats his poor horses in public - with the very real possibility of someone with a camera around - then I dread to think what goes on in indoor schools out of sight.........

That poor poor horse. Obviously very green; but he just didn't present it properly, then when it all goes t!ts up, what does he do but go slapping it around the head.

Words just fail me, they really do.
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I think he set it up to fail so he could teach it what would happen when it "got it wrong"
 
OPEN LETTER TO THE EQUESTRIAN COMMUNITY & GOVERNING BODIES
This morning at 6am, I woke up to a text that read:
“We have no hope in this sport if 20 months is all you get for abusing horses.”
That sentence has sat heavily with me — not because it is dramatic, but because it is painfully true.
I want to begin by acknowledging that I have immense sympathy for everyone involved, including Andrew McConnon. I believe that no one wakes up choosing to abuse a horse. People are shaped by their experiences, their education, their pressures, and sometimes their pain. Many of us, if honest, can reflect on moments in our early horsemanship where we reacted poorly out of fear or confusion — when we did not yet understand how horses think. But there is a line that must never be crossed: losing control, lashing out, or harming a horse out of anger is never acceptable.
Over the past year, I have ridden and cared for two horses previously ridden by Andrew, and my understanding of what happened has come not from rumor, but from the horses themselves. I had little context when they arrived — only small comments from those who had observed him ride, describing impatience rather than violence. So it became a fact-finding mission. Were these horses victims of abuse, or was the narrative exaggerated?
What I learned broke my heart.
The Human Side That Has Been Ignored
The owners who entrusted their horses to Andrew have been judged and ridiculed instead of supported. No one asked whether they were scared, manipulated, or unsure how to remove their horses safely. They were victims too — yet never interviewed or contacted by the FEI investigators.
The grooms who witnessed the behavior and chose courage over silence are heroic in opinion. I don’t condone those who falsely exaggerated the innocents however the actions that were explained to be weren’t in need of embellishing. Some of these people walked away from the sport entirely because they could not bear to watch abuse continue. They too were victims.
What the Horses Told Me
When the three horses arrived at my farm in January, they were 200–300 pounds underweight. Their necks were tight. Their bodies consumed by tension. They were described as “hard keepers” who “wouldn’t hold weight” — but after 11 months, now healthy and relaxed, they are easy keepers eating a quarter of what they needed initially.
One horse chased and bit his own tail in turnout — something I was told was simply a “quirk” that required the horse to be turned out in a cool coat. I later learned it is a severe trauma response. He hasn’t done it in five months.
Their reactions were unlike any I have seen in 30+ years training high-performance horses. Horses don’t lie.
Eddie (Ferrie’s Chello), stoic and robotic, couldn’t let himself feel. A 5* horse who slammed on the brakes not out of stubbornness, but fear, at jumps that were only 2 feet tall. Only after months of rebuilding trust — from the ground up, could he canter softly around a 1.15m course with confidence. For the first time in a long time, he was allowed to be vulnerable and because of this it got worse before it got better.
Dean (Jump Today 2 D aka DeLux Steele), loud and terrified, lived anticipating punishment. This fall he won the 3*L at Galway Downs — not because he magically became relaxed and brave, but because he learned that he would never again be beaten for trying.
That transformation is their testimony.
Why I Am Writing
I do not believe in a lifetime ban for Andrew McConnon. I believe in rehabilitation, education, and redemption. People can change — when they acknowledge harm and commit to structured help. But what I cannot accept is:
• A sentence that feels overwhelmingly light
• A process that never interviewed the owners, the riders, or pertinent people involved
• A conclusion issued without gathering critical testimony
• No mandate for counseling, education, supervision, or reform
• A message that risks telling the world that we tolerate abuse
We must be better. We must demand accountability and education, not silence and avoidance.
The Path Forward
There is an opportunity here — not just to punish, but to transform.
Maybe it is time for a required course on understanding the horse’s mind, trauma responses, emotional regulation, and ethical training.
Maybe it is time for governing bodies to reevaluate investigative processes so that every voice — including the horses — is heard.
If we truly love this sport, any equestrian sport, we cannot turn away from what is uncomfortable.
Ultimately
Our horses cannot speak.
We are their voice.
And we owe them better than this.
- Tamie Smith
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I've been following Allie Conrad since she took the lead on getting stuff out there back along, she shared the open letter.

As she also says they have 10 years of documented abuse and witnesses.

I think this worth posting too

Allie Conrad
Keep in mind some of your upper level “Horse heroes“ wrote letters of support for this person. They have no problem doing this because they are also abusing horses. It’s a systemic problem much like our political climate. People see it done and nothing happens and suddenly it’s OK to punch a horse in the face. People see it done and nothing happens and suddenly it’s just not a big deal that somebody takes a stirrup off of their saddle and hits a horse in the head with it. Your favorite upper level guru that you take clinics from has no problem with holding food and water for 24 hours because “so-and-so does it and is very successful in the dressage“ and suddenly it just doesn’t seem like that big a deal anymore. you don’t see how bad the entire horse sport industry is until you take a serious step back and look at it with objective eyes. And until people stop hero worshiping other fallible humans who kick and pull animals just a little better than mere mortals we will continue to have this problem.
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Writing a polite letter to those people is not gonna change anything

They are the ones doing it, letting it happen, they know how long it's gone on, which is forever, they have no brains to see or understand what they are doing, perhaps the government's on any country where this is taking place need make laws, to ban fei sports for say 2 years on their territory where abuse is taking place in horse sport

Make some sort of laws, with penalties , well if that's what cha do, ya ain't gonna do it here cos we are SUPPOSED TO BE CIVILISED

Not only that but in each and every country there are already those who can educate and set good examples if the bad ones would only look, people from whom one can learn how to control themselves by understanding a pathway to communicate to horses so the horse can understand and how to regulate their emotions


The first thing is to ban spurs, if you can't ride without spurs your training is crap
 
Although a well written letter by Tamie Smith I’m afraid I cannot agree that I have any sympathy for anyone abusing animals. They know what they are doing. They know why.

You could call it a mistake if you did it once. You could be forgiven.

When you do the damage that she had to try and heal in those horses it was deliberate and cruel and he doesn’t deserve redemption. Someone like that has no interest in education or rehabilitation.

My only sympathy goes to his victims and that letter excuses his behaviour. He doesn’t need educating to know what he did was horrific. He couldn’t care less.
Horses deserve that he gets a lifetime ban. They are the innocents in all this and the ones to truly suffer. To hell with humans like him.
 
Peglo said:
Although a well written letter by Tamie Smith I’m afraid I cannot agree that I have any sympathy for anyone abusing animals. They know what they are doing. They know why.

You could call it a mistake if you did it once. You could be forgiven.

When you do the damage that she had to try and heal in those horses it was deliberate and cruel and he doesn’t deserve redemption. Someone like that has no interest in education or rehabilitation.

My only sympathy goes to his victims and that letter excuses his behaviour. He doesn’t need educating to know what he did was horrific. He couldn’t care less.
Horses deserve that he gets a lifetime ban. They are the innocents in all this and the ones to truly suffer. To hell with humans like him.
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I can see both sides of that.

I would phrase it differently, personally. That one phrase has rather overshadowed everything else, and the bulk of her letter addresses my own feelings exactly, that this one person being the only person to face consequences is not actually justice. Not because he shouldn't face consequences, but that the system that taught, supported, encouraged and reinforced his behaviour is as much to blame as he is personally. This isn't a problem that can be fixed by only coming down as hard as possible on the people that happen to be caught out with the worst offenses, and pretending they are just bad apples. It has to be changed from the ground up, because the whole barrel is rotten already.
 
smolmaus said:
I can see both sides of that.

I would phrase it differently, personally. That one phrase has rather overshadowed everything else, and the bulk of her letter addresses my own feelings exactly, that this one person being the only person to face consequences is not actually justice. Not because he shouldn't face consequences, but that the system that taught, supported, encouraged and reinforced his behaviour is as much to blame as he is personally. This isn't a problem that can be fixed by only coming down as hard as possible on the people that happen to be caught out with the worst offenses, and pretending they are just bad apples. It has to be changed from the ground up, because the whole barrel is rotten already.
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If those that are caught don’t get punished severely then how will there ever be change?
A slap on the wrists for these horrendous crimes against horses hasn't stopped these practices being taught, supported or encouraged so far so make the punishments so harsh it forces them to rethink.

It’s all well and good saying we need to change from the bottom up but most of these people are lurking in the shadows so how do you force the change?

Throw the book at those that get caught. Condemn those associated with them. Make it completely unacceptable to be involved with anyone that has anything to do with such cruelty.

I’m afraid I just can’t accept that these people don’t know it was wrong because they saw someone else doing it. They’ve tried it, gotten away with it and realised they are untouchable. Seeing those that get caught barely getting any punishment gives them a free for all to carry on their horrific practices.
They have full control of their own actions and if they can’t tell what their doing is wrong then a lifetime ban is the only fair option for horses.
 
Peglo said:
If those that are caught don’t get punished severely then how will there ever be change?
A slap on the wrists for these horrendous crimes against horses hasn't stopped these practices being taught, supported or encouraged so far so make the punishments so harsh it forces them to rethink.

It’s all well and good saying we need to change from the bottom up but most of these people are lurking in the shadows so how do you force the change?

Throw the book at those that get caught. Condemn those associated with them. Make it completely unacceptable to be involved with anyone that has anything to do with such cruelty.

I’m afraid I just can’t accept that these people don’t know it was wrong because they saw someone else doing it. They’ve tried it, gotten away with it and realised they are untouchable. Seeing those that get caught barely getting any punishment gives them a free for all to carry on their horrific practices.
They have full control of their own actions and if they can’t tell what their doing is wrong then a lifetime ban is the only fair option for horses.
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I said punish them, but you can't do ONLY that. You need to do the education part as well. Both, not one or the other.
 
smolmaus said:
the bulk of her letter addresses my own feelings exactly, that this one person being the only person to face consequences is not actually justice. Not because he shouldn't face consequences
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Sorry, because you’d said above I assumed you also agreed with her point that:
I do not believe in a lifetime ban for Andrew McConnon. I believe in rehabilitation, education, and redemption.

That to me is not punishment at all and I don’t feel he needs educating, he knows what he’s done. But of course that is my just my opinion
 
Ally said she said in her testimony that she wanted him to have a new mustang for 6 months to learn, because if you beat one straight out like he has the others you’d probably die
 
Peglo said:
Sorry, because you’d said above I assumed you also agreed with her point that:
I do not believe in a lifetime ban for Andrew McConnon. I believe in rehabilitation, education, and redemption.

That to me is not punishment at all and I don’t feel he needs educating, he knows what he’s done. But of course that is my just my opinion
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Yeah you need to read my whole post to know what I meant 😂

I don't really know what my opinion is on what the correct punishment would be tbh. You can remove any training licenses he might have, make him uninsurable, say he can't legally own animals but tbh we've seen abusers wriggle their way around all those things before and keep getting paid for their "skills". A lifetime ban does at least send a message to everyone else.
 
Believe me if you can't get a domesticated horse to comply you will not get on too well with a mustang

And mustangs deserve to be understood as well
 
I can see both sides. I don’t excuse the blatant abusers at all - they know it’s wrong. They do what they believe gets results, and they don’t give a passing thought to the horse’s welfare.

But there are more subtleties in horse riding and competition that can only be addressed from the top down. How many of us have been in a lesson or clinic with a well-respected trainer and asked to do something we weren’t comfortable with? I know I have. I’ve also seen a novice amateur in a shared lesson being told her horse was being “naughty” for refusing a fence it had spooked at several times, and instructed: “Right-whip him!” The rider duly gave the horse a good thrashing with a raised schooling whip, and it made me wince. Would she have done that on her own? Probably not. Did she leave the lesson pleased the horse jumped and believing the trainer had shown her the right way? Also probably.

If I’d been asked to do the same, I probably would have have refused and I’ve been screamed at many times for being too “soft” on my horses, but I’ve also done things that didn’t sit right with me simply because I felt I didn’t know better than the person teaching me. And when these people get results and you don’t, it makes you question - if you want to achieve your goals, do you have to ride a certain way and push your own boundaries of what kind of rider you want to be?

Now, I’m an amateur, so I can pick and choose how far I push things, take from a lesson what I want, and decide what I want to do going forwards. There’s no pressure on me if it takes me longer to get where I want to be, whether that’s in terms of my horse’s results or how “good” a rider I am. But I imagine that in a heavily institutionalised environment and where you are under pressure to perform, where these things are normalised and you’re trained in a certain way day in, day out, you do become a bit brainwashed over time. Then you get the next generation of riders behaving the same way.

So yes, people need to be punished, but I also think education is huge. So much of this filters down from the top and it is so entrenched at every possible level. Until the people who know it’s wrong and start questioning these methods outnumber the people they respect enough to accept it as “normal,” things won’t really change.
 
I have never in my 78 years of owning animals, ponies, horses, dogs or farm animals ever abused any of them, my sister 76 years of owning has never ever abused either…
I just cannot understand any excuse, reason given by any human being to justify behaviour like this…..
Cruelty in any form is just that cruelty….
I know many other long term owners who are exactly like us….
Think the time has come for people who have witnessed behaviour like this to come forward, and not to be afraid of the consequences to them, but for them to be protected and indeed congratulated….
Just read another post, how on earth can anyone be or indeed need educated not to be cruel or abusive to another living being….education really?
Next thing will be that they had a poor education growing up….
 
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Marshpiper said:
I have never in my 78 years of owning animals, ponies, horses, dogs or farm animals ever abused any of them, my sister 76 years of owning has never ever abused either…
I just cannot understand any excuse, reason given by any human being to justify behaviour like this…..
Cruelty in any form is just that cruelty….
I know many other long term owners who are exactly like us….
Think the time has come for people who have witnessed behaviour like this to come forward, and not to be afraid of the consequences to them, but for them to be protected and indeed congratulated….
Just read another post, how on earth can anyone be or indeed need educated not to be cruel or abusive to another living being….education really?
Next thing will be that they had a poor education growing up….
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I think you may have misunderstood what I meant. I’m not saying people need to be “educated not to be cruel.” I’m saying that we need better education across the board so people have the knowledge and confidence to stand up to this kind of behaviour when they see it.

Right now there’s far too much, “they know better than me, so they must be right,” and that happens at every level, not just with professionals or the elite. I’ve experienced it everywhere from amateur lessons to BHS trainers to pony club. Unless people are taught from the very beginning that this behaviour is not acceptable, the system will never change.

Those who have used these methods for years are unlikely to change or even recognise the problem. But we CAN influence the next generation, riders, parents, instructors, so this behaviour slowly gets phased out. That’s where education matters, empowering people to challenge bad practice safely, confidently, and early.

It absolutely isn’t about excusing cruelty. It’s about making sure people know enough to call it out so it stops being normalised. That’s how we start removing the rot that runs through parts of the horse world.
 
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