Last month, I posted about the animal-abusing trainer Amber Cobb. Yesterday, the Paulick Report filed a lengthy piece detailing Cobb’s cruelty. With it, came a video (below) obtained through a FOIA request. That video, shot in February, and testimony (to the Delaware Racing Commission) came from Lisa Whittaker, a former groom for Cobb. Here is some of what she said to the commissioners:
“Her methods are brutal. She is very heavy-handed. If they are slightly out of line, and these are young horses, she’s screaming at them to whoa and hitting them with a whip. They don’t understand why. She flips horses over all the time. She’ll pull on their mouths when they’re ground driving. She’s screaming at them, she’s whipping them, and there’s nowhere for them to go but up.”
From the article: “At the beginning of the 2021 Delaware Park meet, Whittaker recalled a horse – a bay colt – who was being taught to use the automatic walker. The horse broke loose and ran around the Delaware Park property for an extended period of time. When they finally caught him, the overwrought horse didn’t want to go into his stall. Whittaker testified that Cobb beat the colt in the head with a chain shank to get him to back into the stall. She also said Cobb told her to withhold feed from the horse for four days afterwards.”
The rest of the article details Cobb’s “defense,” and the reasons the Commission reduced from two years to two months. For example: “[S]everal commissioners remarked during public deliberations that they were impressed with Cobb…. ‘You were articulate,’ said chairman W. Duncan Patterson Jr. ‘You were an excellent witness.'” Now, watch the video. But be forewarned, it’s very bad.
This is the person the Delaware Racing Commission was “impressed with.” (And yes, they saw this video before making those comments and commuting her sentence.)
By the way, here are just some of the horses Cobb, as trainer, had a hand in killing over the past few years. (The last two were “wash-bay incidents.”)
4-year-old Private Thrill, Sep 3, 2016, Finger Lakes racing
3-year-old Justenuffaddie, Nov 30, 2016, Finger Lakes racing
3-year-old Last Chant, Nov 15, 2018, Finger Lakes racing
4-year-old Take Charge Jamie, Aug 24, 2019, Finger Lakes training
2-year-old Sky High Interest, Jun 12, 2020, Finger Lakes: “flipped…sustained head injury requiring euthanasia”
5-year-old Diamond Darlin, Jul 20, 2020, Delaware: “horse reared and fell, hit head, fractured skull, ruptured major artery – died” (note: not euthanized, just died)
I want to beat the shit out of this person. How do I get a petition to get her banned from racing?
Why Didn’t Lisa Whittaker Stop Amber Cobb?
Her license needs to be yanked permanently. She obviously lied outright to the commission. Of course then she’ll go to the private sector and pretend to be a trainer. She needs legal charges filed against her so that she may never own, board, or train horses ever again.
Unfortunately Amber Cobb is only the tip of the iceberg as far as horse cruelty goes. That sadistic, psychopathic bitch deserves the same treatment she has dished out to the beautiful horses entrusted to her.
J, I totally agree with you. She is not the only one who falls into this category of massive abuse. There are countless others big name and no name who should be called out and exposed.
Nancy – Provide List So We Can Get Them?
PETA has a petition regarding Amber Cobb if you’d like to read it and (hopefully) sign it.
https://support.peta.org/page/33040/petition/1
Thank you for the petition link. I shared it!
This is animal abuse…what can we do? She needs to be reported to the nearest Humane Society . She needs to be arrested for animal abuse.
What a piece of crap she is. That poor horse had no where to go while she is yelling and hitting it.
This is cruel and heart breaking and she needs to be fined and should be put in jail. My heart hurts for this baby.
There are not enough words to describe this freaking bitch. Why, oh why, is she allowed to carry on abusing and beating the horses that she is ‘supposed to love’ and how can the owners of these horses just stand by and watch this continual abuse happening?? Oh I forgot, they also ‘love’ their horses but, lets face it, they love the money and fame even more.
What an absolute coward! She is a cruel sadistic human being and should NEVER be able to be in possession of ANY animal. She should be bound and have electric hooked up to her and asked horse training/care questions and be shocked regardless of answers. Perhaps she might gain some insigjt of feeling helpless against the cruelty being inflected as I’m sure her charges did.
fukn bitch like to tie her to that bar, now see why it’s so hard to calm them once rescued
I can’t believe she’s not in jail. Suspended indefinitely. So sad seeing the Industry I loved going to Hell. Glad I am out seeing this nasty thing let back in. Repulsive. Rot