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US Equestrian released a brief statement today stating that the United States Olympic Committee has dismissed the emergency filing by Larry Glefke and Kelley Farmer, effectively killing their legal options to reinstate their standing in the US Equestrian Federation.
“The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Hearing Panel has granted the United States Equestrian Federation’s (USEF) Motion to Dismiss a Complaint filed against it by Larry Glefke and Kelley Farmer. Following a two-day hearing before the USEF Hearing Committee, Glefke and Farmer were found in violation of USEF drug rules. As a result of these violations, Glefke and Farmer are currently serving a 24-month and 18-month suspension, respectively. Their suspensions began on July 1, 2017.”
Attorneys for Glefke and Farmer filed earlier this summer with the USOC claiming that the USEF was mishandling the case and needed emergency intervention from the highest governing body of Olympic Sport in the United States. As hunters are not an Olympic sport but happen to fall under the umbrella of the USEF, there was very little likelihood of the USOC intervening.
The bulk of Glefke and Farmer’s argument against the USEF was that there was a mishandling of the blood samples taken from “Unexpected” at the Kentucky Horse Show in 2016. The A and B samples tested very differently, and the defendants’ lawyers found that there were mistakes in sample protocol which should dismiss the case against them.
The USEF Panel disagreed with this characterization, ultimately upholding the previous hearing’s findings.
Since being banned from the show ring, Farmer and Lane Change Farm have switched gears, so to speak, and are focusing on importing and reselling hunter prospects from overseas.
[USOC Grants USEF Motion to Dismiss Complaint filed by Glefke and Farmer]