Lets take this blog to the next level

If you have a photo of crappy show riding, know of a jerkwad trainer or judge, or someone in the show world that is an abusive piece of shit then send the info to me. This blog is not anti-showing, it's anti-abuse. So there is no truth to the claims from the TWH, ASB, western pleasure and dressage zombies that I'm trying to shut showing down. Instead I'm trying to make showing more honest and to get abusive practices out of the showring! Email me at shameinthehorseshowring@gmail.com



I have a request for my readers: If you have successfully rehabbed a show horse, or gotten a rescue and taken it on to a show career then let me know, I'd love to feature you here!






Monday, September 26, 2011

Randy Byers, certifiable John Lyons trainer

Usually I ignore the natural horsemanship trainwhores. They don't show and there abuse is more focused in the round pen and expo than the show ring and warm up pen. But awhile back Fugly Horse of the Day outed this idiot and I wanted to do a follow up after a rash of posts on an Arabian horse forum. Evidently Mr. Byers is not only a horse abuser he's a international criminal.
He's no longer listed on the John Lyons' site as a trainer John Lyons Homepage

This was posted on the Arab forum, looks like someone is in trouble!



FACT:
Randy Byers is NO LONGER a Lyons Certified Trainer, due to his unscrupulous training techniques.
Randy Byers is NO LONGER a Royal Champion Supplements Endorser due to his unfair treatment of horses.
FACT:
Randy Byers is in jail in Canada up on 3 counts of contravening the Immigration and Customs Act. Evading Customs, Failing to Report to Customs, and Failing to report for Examination. This IS PUBLIC INFORMATION. Call the Courthouse at 519-333-2950.
He has been incarcerated since Sept 8th. His first video court appearance was Sept. 20, his second video appearance is Sept 22 at the Sarnia Courthouse, presumably to face more charges.
Now....would you like any more proof of his horse beating????
I'll invite some of his victims on here, and you can hear their testimonies.
Fugly was right.





Looks like he needs to stay in jail. Pity they can't let the other prisoners bend him over and ride him like he did this horse.

Natural Whoremanship is NOT the way to train your horse! Don't let these money hungry jerks ruin your horse's productive life by creating these bad habits.

13 comments:

cattypex said...

WHAT is he doing???

1) That poor horse is trying so hard to understand him, but he's got him so cranked in that running martingale/training fork/whatever that there's no way he can send him any other signals thru the reins.

2) What's with the TWO whips, AND ginormous spurs? Oh, I see. So he can punish the horse twice as hard, FOR NOTHING.

I see no disobedience in the horse, only confusion. I also see someone forcing a horse to go behind the bit and inverted, which would be a really FUN habit to undo if any merciful and knowledgable owner ends up with that big beautiful horse. Is he a saddlebred? He's really neat looking, and has awesome bone and OMG look at that WALK. Beautiful, naturally forward and cadenced, there at the start of the vid.

Such athletic potential, such a nice willing horse, soured and ruined before our eyes.

I also hate these "trainers" (mostly guys) who can only ride WITH spurs, and only in Western saddles, when they claim they can train ANY horse in ANY discipline. Clearly this dude learned at the hands of the worst AQHA trainers and then the worst western Arabian trainers, who probably started out AQHA.

Again, WHY is he beating and spurring that horse?? The horse was starting to understand moving off the leg, that much is clear - I would've reinforced that simple lesson in a happy way, and called it a day.

Kathleen said...

Poor horse looks confused, yes. Also like he's got a glimmer of fantasy: "If only I could get this SOB off my back and on the ground..."

What a shame we aren't watching THAT video, lol.

Let's take a professional dancer, crank their head into an exaggerated position, and see how they move.

What is it with these people? Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

Unless this video was taken without his permission, I can only
imagine what torment his victims suffer when he's 'training' in private. That poor animal will be given back to its owner with its mind completely ruined.

Yes, what is with the constant picking and spurring when the horse is actually doing it right?

appydoesdressage said...

At least he won't be doing this to animals for the next month, he was sentenced Tuesday and will spend the next 27 days in jail over customs issues.

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3324053

qhryder said...

He was only sentenced to the 27 days of pre-sentence custody then deported. He is back in the US making appologies and training horses.

cattypex said...

UGH.

And with Congress upon us, this month the epicenter of this kind of "training" is in Columbus, OH.

Oh, sure, not every AQHA trainer is nasty. Probably not even MOST of them. But there are ENOUGH.....

jhk2011 said...

Randy Byers is a horse abusing idiot. i boarded at a barn where he trained it. it was awful to watch him ride the horses. we even tried to help him a time or two but he was too much of a know it all to take any help. he has no idea what he is doing. he shouldnt be allowed any where near horses.

forthehorse said...

If this is horse abuse then all trainers are abusers. Is this the best you can do to show that this guy is an abuser? He is trying to get the horse to go forward! ! He does not once use the spurs. Only the crop on one side.
Aggressive maybe, but this is not abuse! I can't believe how quickly people will jump on any bandwagon and start exaggerating and even lying to be right. One account of the video says it gets worse after this, but I heard from someone who was there that the horse calmed down and walked forward.

cattypex said...

Did we watch the same video?

I saw spurs, and TWO whips.

And a horse that is not allowed to think or move.

If this is a taste of how this guy "trains" horses to do something simple like move off the leg, I can't see it getting any better from there.

UnbrokenLaw said...

@forthehorse

That horse is a beginners lesson horse that was sent to him because she has a habit of stopping when the rider gets too far forward in the tack. That's it. That's abuse. The horse is TRYING to understand what he's telling her to do, however, he's telling her to whoa and go forward at the same time and punishing her when she does either of them. The owner of the horse has another one that he dealt with as well, and both of them have unending issues because of him...the other one wouldn't walk into the wash stall. He smacked him with a whip multiple times while backing him down a 40ft barn aisle and then into the wash stall, and the horse only went in because he wasn't getting hit then. And the horse, a year later, still trembles whenever he's put in the wash stall. Anything that sticks like that for that long in that manner, and causes a horse to react that way is abuse. He's consistently lied about things that his horse was used for. Obviously he's lied to authorities. On top of that, the owner of the horse in the video, has many more accounts of abuse and the poor care and condition of his own horse. Horses in pictures and video of him working with them are clearly upset and pissed off. That's not creating a partnership. That's not natural horsemanship.

jhk2011 said...

Yes, randy is a horse abuse and people have seen more evidence than just this one video. I have personally witnessed him aboard horse after horse using the same techniques. He would run horses into the ground. Canter them in circles for a good two hours with no breaks. they would come out of the arena dripping in sweat and trembling only to be tied in their stall with no cool out. If you tried to tell him “hey, that horse you just tied up isn’t looking so good” he would tell you he didn’t have all day to cool them out. it was awful . I couldn’t ride my horse in the arena if randy was working a horse because she was terrified of him…and he never touched her. I told our barn owner under no circumstance was he ever to touch my horse and he was to never go in her stall. The only bits he ever rode in were tiny twisted wire, his saddle had a screw poking through that was leaving lumps on all the horses he rode, and he whipped the crap out of them. no, just because you ride in a twist doesn’t make you a horse abuser IF you know what you’re doing. He did not. And if your trying to teach “natural horsemanship” how are all those training tools natural Seemed more like he was on a major power trip and was always just trying to prove to the horses who was the boss….nothing more. I never actually witnessed him teach them anything besides “be afraid of me or I will beat you, and even if you are scared, I will beat you some more”

UptownJ said...

I wanted to give this guy a chance even after I had heard all the negative. I also had a friend have a good experience with him and her horse. I scheduled a lesson to work on teaching my horse a minor skill in showmanship. He first took my horse to the opposite end of the arena from where I was standing. He then spent 45 minutes, smacking my horse with a dressage whip. My shame is I did not stop it. I will spend the rest of my time with my horse, apologizing to her for my stupidity. I now believe every negative thing I have heard about this guy. Hopefully, this might save another horse from this kind of mistreatment.

Unknown said...

Yup, he even lies to his own daughter....... Does this look like gossip?
http://www.theobserver.ca/2011/10/05/us-trainer-nabbed-at-border-hiding-in-horse-trailer