by Caroline Waters

It was a dreary humid Thursday in July at the Kentucky Horse Park when Kelley Farmer and her horse “Unexpected” were cantering around a 3’3” hunter course. The rain fell down as the claps arose following her flawless round that secured her the win in her class. To the judge and the spectators, everything seemed perfect. But, to the steward (the individual that makes sure the rules are followed) something was off. They sent the drug testers off to take a blood sample from the horse, and Farmer’s career was put to the test.

Kelley Farmer started showing in rated shows under the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) in 1997 and has a rider report a mile long. She shows multiple horses during competition weeks and is widely known as one of the most competitive and slick professionals in the business. She’s acquired clients throughout the years to ride the young horses in the green (inexperienced) divisions and the horses to show in the international hunter derbies (best of the best). She won the World Champion Hunter Rider Championships at the Capital Challenge Horse Show in the fall of 2014 and multiple of the most prestigious classes in the horse show world. Recently though, she’s been known for something else. On January 11th, 2017 the USEF announced that Kelley Farmer and her business partner Larry Glefke would be suspended for a positive drug test in the horse “Unexpected”. “Unexpected” was showing with Farmer in one of the  3’3” Pre-Green hunter classes at the Kentucky Summer Horse Show on July 28th, 2016.

In the hunter divisions a horse is judged on manner of going, fluidity and classic jumping form from the horse. The perfect hunter round has an even pace to all of the jumps, a well behaved horse that has classic movement and jumping form, and is well turned out and groomed. The reality is, the horses have a mind of their own. Some naturally have all the qualities of a perfect hunter. Others have just one or the other or none at all. As any good horseman would tell you, when you have a horse you try to find a “job” it loves to do. My horse, Eragon, has the movement and the jumping style to be a hunter, but does not have the temperament and fluidity to be one. Therefore I do him in the jumpers which is timed and is based on how fast and how cleanly you can jump a horse. He is much happier doing this because I don’t have to worry about the perfection that the hunters demand. Some people, though do not think the same way I do. They want to do whatever they are set on and continue with it, even if it means being unfair to the horse. They do this by drugging their horses with tranquilizers so they will be quiet and even tempered.

Farmer’s horse tested positive for GABA or gamma-aminobutyric acid. This was the main component in a supplement called “Carolina Gold” which was advertised and used as a horse calming supplement. In 2012 when it was discovered to be calming the horses that were given it just a little too well. There are multiple calming supplements on the market that are effective in making the horses safer and easier to work around in day to day work and under saddle. The effect of “Carolina Gold” was more than just helping riders and workers be safe. It was making the horse so calm it could go around a course with great fluidity and evenness.  When this was discovered the USEF put a strict ban on GABA stating that: “Effective immediately, ‘Carolina Gold’ or any other product containing GABA is considered a forbidden substance under USEF rules. Further, because there are no recognized medical uses for this substance, the use of a Medication Report Form to report its administration is not applicable.” Today, the product “Carolina Gold” is virtually off the market but lots of people still have it lying around. Horse people never throw products away. It’s not found on the shelves like it previously was and was proven to have no medical uses in sport horses. But, why, in 2018 is GABA an issue? I mean, it has no medical usage. Why would anybody want to put their horse on it? The answer: money, power, and fame. Typical human nature forces these things into the horse world on full blast. One thing some horsemen fail to remember is that it’s not just them they effect when they drug a horse for performance purposes, we’re responsible for the well being and comfort of another living being.

Farmer and Glefkle were both initially suspended from competition for a significant amount of time and fined. Glefkle, who was listed on the entry blank as the horse’s trainer, was suspended for 24 months and fined a total of 24k dollars. Farmer was handed a 12 months suspension and a fine of 12k dollars. Then, the “Unexpected” happened and they appealed both suspensions. They claimed that they were never notified of the charges. They released a statement following the announcement saying that “There is no way Mr. Glefke or Ms. Farmer wouldn’t have retained proper representation, secured a B sample of the blood, submitted evidence in writing and had experts on the medicine at a hearing, if they were aware of the charge,”

Securing a B sample of the blood, retaining “proper” representation, submitting evidence in writing and having medical experts at the hearing are all ways people defend themselves at these hearings for suspensions if they chose to fight the case. This was a bit shocking, and the first highly publicised rider and trainer to be charged under the USEF’s new regulations. After they appealed, they started to gear up for a fight.

The USEF is a non-profit organization that began in 1917 under the name Association of American Horse Shows. It’s initial intention was to unite all of these different horse shows and to provide clean competition. Clean competition is just what it sounds like. No drugging, no bribing, no bias, nothing. Through the years it’s grown and now has over 100k members and has most of all the riding disciplines from show jumping to endurance to vaulting under their jurisdiction. With that, the USEF is responsible for managing clean sport which includes punishment for rule violations. When a rule is broken at a competition like Farmer did, there is notification from the federation of the charges a hearing and then a punishment is given. If the party involved does not think they are at fault they can file an appeal and proceed with that but most of the time the parties are at fault and the punishment is accepted. In Farmer and Glefkle’s case, they demanded a rehearing and appealed. The USEF is a private organization to which its members pay dues every year. Because of this, it doesn’t go through the criminal justice system. It doesn’t count as animal abuse because the animals, in this case, are normally happy, fat, and healthy and there’s no legal protocol for this.

Their request for a rehearing was granted in February of 2017. The USEF upheld the suspension and their opinion on the matter remained unwavering. Glefke however was infuriated. “I’m going to take this as far as it can go. I have a USOC hearing on July 11, and I am officially suing the lab. We’re going to sue the lab, and I will take this as far as I possibly can.” he stated after the hearing. Now, Farmer and Glefkle brought the United States Olympic Committee (USOC)  into the picture, which raised even more attention to the case. During that hearing, they USOC granted USEF the motion to dismiss Farmer and Glefkle’s complaint. The suspensions started on July 1st, and both started to serve their time when on January 17th, 2018, a year after the initial suspension the USEF announced it had reached a settlement and resolved it’s litigation with the two “horsemen”. This never really hurts top professionals like these two. There’s too much power and money into that to just stop training or showing. They were dropping the suspensions, the fines and were restoring membership to them both effective July 1st, 2017.

After their membership had been restored, the trainer/rider combination took on the next adventure and began showing again. This time, with a new batch of horses. The headline horse’s name? “Shameless”. Shameless? About the fact that they got caught, and the blood samples proved that GABA was in the system? The two professionals now gallop around the shows without consequence. Sure, people look at them off sometimes but it’s nothing for them. These two individuals are showing the younger generation of professionals that they can whine, and with all their money pull together a case to get their charges dismissed. Not to mention the lasting effect that they didn’t care for the horse’s well being and they were more inclined for it to win, like it did. It was cheating, plain and simple.

Sadly, the negative effects don’t stop at the horse. All of the other competitors that are given the short end of the stick feel the effects as well. There are horses that love the hunters but get beat out by the drugged horses because they show no personality, no anything and it looks like the “classic” hunter. It doesn’t even look like a horse. The USEF has gotten so much better about cracking down on the individual that cheats not only the other compeitiors, but the horse as well. One could only hope they will continue to do so. For the sake of the sport and more importantly, the horse.