01/03/2026
From a good friend see end of post)For many of us in equestrian sports, we cannot help but feel berated and hopeless due to rising membership costs, tone deaf communications, and lack of programs and support via FEI and USEF for the typical adult amateur that supports the majority of the sport. I think some of us are starting to believe that programs like Safe Sport are more than just huge time commitments and grossly misaligned— but situations like this make SafeSport look dangerous and unaccountable. When the legal system has already found Barisone not guilty, yet SafeSport still moves forward with a ban, it doesn’t just ruin careers — it sends a chilling message to good, ethical professionals who now fear wrongful accusations and arbitrary action. For many of us with morals and a deep love and affection for horses, we cannot help but wonder why those who have been proven guilty with video and photo evidence of egregious acts of cruelty and abuse to both horse and human (Parra) receive merely a slap on the wrist (and still proceed with “business as usual” via their own few farms while training and still coaching and launching a complete PR cleanup campaign full of lies) then see seemingly retaliatory bans like this leave us scratching our heads. But WORSE, the USEF and FEI are making an already expensive and risky sport even less inviting for professionals who now must worry about false accusations or retaliation and loss of income and their career.
The timing and optics of this ban feel impossible to ignore. Coming right on the heels of Barisone’s lawsuit, it gives the very real appearance of retaliation rather than athlete protection. Meanwhile, individuals with long-documented histories of abuse — both toward horses and people — receive little more than a slap on the wrist and continue operating, training, and profiting without real consequence.
What began as a system built on good intentions has devolved into something that increasingly looks politicized, inconsistent, and drunk on power — and that should concern everyone who cares about the future of this sport. For those of us searching for tangible reasons to continue with recognized shows, all of this seems too questionable and concerning to ignore.Jessica Pescatrice thank you for this you are amazing
More than six years after he was arrested for shooting a former student, Michael Barisone’s status in the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s disciplinary database has been changed from a temporary suspension for “allegations of misconduct” to permanent ineligibility for “sexual harassment,” “emotional misconduct” and violating “NGB policies/bylaws.” The national governing body for equestrian sports in the United States is the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
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