How It Works: The Regulation Department
The disciplinary process aims to enforce rules that ensure the ethical treatment of horses and a fair playing field for all.
by Debbie Elliot
The USEF Regulation Department handles reports and complaints regarding rule violations and other disciplinary matters including horse welfare concerns, while the Safe Sport Department is in place to protect athletes from abuse and misconduct.
The Regulation Department has a four-step process for handling reports: intake, investigation, assessment, and action. This can involve informal resolutions or formal disciplinary proceedings. The goal of the Regulation Department is to create a fair playing field for all, to protect the health and welfare of all horses in equestrian sport, and to enforce rules related to the ethical treatment of horses.
“The USEF rules clearly define the standards for ethical treatment of the horse. Integrity in the enforcement process is essential. The process must be fair, transparent, and consistent,” said Sonja Keating, US Equestrian General Counsel & Chief Operating Officer.
The Disciplinary Process
We have made updates disciplinary processes in recent years, including new penalty guidelines, a revised warning card system, and improved web resources to enhance transparency and efficiency. We were also grateful to bring gain independent law enforcement experience John Lathrop was hired in the newly-created role of Integrity Unit Investigator. Lathrop is a former detective with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Myers, Fla., where he worked in the property crime, violent crime, intelligence, and homicide units before he retired from law enforcement and moved to Kentucky.
“At the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, we were very much involved in protecting animals, children, and people who can’t protect themselves,” Lathrop said.
He is now transferring those skills to the protection of horses by investigating allegations of mistreatment or abuse.
“Anytime you’re speaking up for and fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves, it is a greater responsibility to try to work as hard as you can to protect them and make sure they are safe,” Lathrop said.
The Investigation Process
Lathrop’s priority is to stay neutral, decipher the facts, and not assume that every allegation that is reported is legitimate. He carries out investigations by developing leads and gathering evidence.
“These are skills I’ve learned over the years during my time in law enforcement,” Lathrop said. “I start all my cases exactly the same. Once it is assigned to me, I do a cursory review and organize my thoughts about the case, read all the documents, review the witnesses, and analyze all the information that we have at the beginning. The techniques that I would use in the sheriff’s office were the same, whether it was a burglary or a homicide.
“It is a timeline in chronological order of how the investigation unfolds, so you are telling the story from A to Z.”
Lathrop proceeds to interview the witnesses, develop further leads from those witnesses, and gather evidence from them such as photos, videos, or screenshots. After 25 years with the sheriff’s office, Lathrop is highly experienced at talking with people, gathering information, and encouraging witnesses to tell him details.
“Sometimes the smallest detail matters, even if they don’t know the whole story,” he explained. “It’s all pieces of the pie.”
Incidents that happen during shows are often filmed, however those that occur at home, at barns or in the warm-up ring, usually are not, making first-person testimony vitally important.
As the equestrian community is very closeknit, some people may be worried about coming forward, but all reports can be submitted confidentially and anonymously online by completing a Horse Abuse & Unethical Treatment Report Form or by texting 2USEF. A text to 2USEF runs through a third-party, independent platform which anonymizes the reporter's contact information while still allowing USEF investigators to correspond with them. USEF’s Anti-Retaliation Policy protects people who participate in proceedings.
“Often people come forward when they see something extremely disturbing or after they choose to leave a barn, trainer, or facility. We then have to call witnesses who are currently still in the program, who are sometimes reluctant to participate,” Lathrop revealed. “My job is to encourage them to tell me the truth. We want the same thing. We want the horses to be protected. Eventually, if we pursue the case and send a notice of allegation letter, then we will call the respondent [the person being investigated].”
Next, they have the opportunity to talk to Lathrop or send him a letter to explain their side of the situation, which encourages them to provide him with more details.
“We really want to educate people,” Lathrop stressed. “These aren’t people who are deliberately abusive. These are people who may have used harsher training techniques than called for because maybe they don’t have the skills to train the right way. Or a lot of our cases involve frustration, the horse refuses to jump, etc., so out of exasperation, they hit or mistreat the horse, which is not OK.”
The Resolution Process
Once Lathrop’s investigation is completed, it is reviewed internally for an outcome determination.
“A determination must be made whether the evidence substantiates a rule violation,” Keating explained. “If not, then the matter will be closed. If so, then a decision is taken on whether to offer an informal resolution or proceed with formal disciplinary action and a hearing. Informal resolutions vary widely based on the facts and circumstances of the particular situation, including the severity of the offense and whether it is a first-time occurrence.
“It is important to understand the context of what happened,” Keating stressed, clarifying that USEF cannot base regulatory action solely on video evidence from TikTok or other social media platforms.
“The evidence must be authenticated,” she explained. “We need to demonstrate its reliability and verify that it fairly and accurately represents the event it depicts. While digital forensics can analyze the metadata and provide insights, the testimony of an eyewitness to the incident is essential.”
USEF might offer a suspension to someone who has committed a violation. However, if they refuse it, then the member is afforded a hearing before a neutral hearing panel.
“USEF has penalty guidelines for the unethical treatment of the horse and for drug and medication violations,” Keating explained. “These are just that — guidelines. Mitigating factors may warrant a departure from the guidelines while aggravating factors may justify a higher penalty. The penalties are published online [here]. This transparency helps facilitate the informal resolution of most matters where the parties agree to the outcome. This approach is ideal because it saves everyone time and expense and avoids what may feel like an adversarial process. In the end, we want a fair outcome."
Photos: Leslie Potter/US Equestrian