Éric Lamaze has been involved in different legal procedures, who have attacked his reputiation,but, according to the rider, also his mental and physical health. In August this year, Lamaze was convicted to pay 768.000 Dollar to the Aziz Family. Last yearthe Canadian also had to pay 1,4 miljoen dollar to other victims of wrongdoings. Although, Lamaze acknowledged some of his lies in Februari 2024, he now published an open letter to share his point of view of the past years.
“To begin, I am truly heartbroken that the community, which I have loved dearly for more than 30 years of my life, would feel as though they were misled regarding my state of health or that I would be capable of such a harmful lie. That was never my intention nor the reality. I have made efforts toward medical privacy only to protect my experimental treatment plan and emotional well-being during this extremely challenging and frightening life-or-death time. Yet instead, vicious rumors arose surrounding the legitimacy of my tumor, among other things, and as they often do, these rumors quickly spiraled far from my control and, most importantly—the truth. I was unable to respond to the accusations against me, the most recent of which dates back to last August, because of the severity of my condition and the advice from my counsel. I only ask that those who rushed to judgment and assumption would instead try to understand why I have struggled with enduring such a vulnerable experience so publicly.
I'd like to be clear that I don't feel any real anger but rather a great deal of sadness for having been ostracized by the horse world in this way and seeing my reputation tarnished after a dreamlike career. At times, this has been too much to bear and contributed to a major setback when combined with my illness, which has weakened me immensely, both physically and mentally.
Indeed, I am proud of my career and accomplishments; no one can take that away from me, but even more so to have been part of enabling Canada to regain its place among the best nations in the world alongside a team of many dedicated and hardworking individuals. Having Canada in the finest Nations Cups, from Aachen to the final in Barcelona, has filled me with immense pride. Thus, it is devastating to find myself today completely abandoned by the very federation to which I have contributed so much and without support in the darkest hour of my life. This treatment deeply hurts me and was even denounced by certain commentators during the recent Olympic Games.
In these cases, rumors and untruths led to summonses, and the summonses gave way to more rumors that further tarnished my reputation and sidelined me from a sport that was my whole life and kept me alive in my hardest moments. I've never claimed to be perfect; my past excesses are well known, but my symptoms were the result of my tumor and entirely unrelated to any substances.
What I'm suffering from most today is not being able to ride, compete, or be in contact with horses due to this legal harassment. This sport was my passion. With better counsel, better support, and better health, I should never have lost these trials, which shouldn’t have occurred in the first place.
First, I'd like to comment on the Iron Horse Farm Inc.-Aziz family case, in which I was convicted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on August 8.
I sold a dozen horses to the Aziz family (Iron Horse Farm Inc.), and I'd like to stress that these horses met the standard for which they were sold when they changed
hands, as I'll document later. I'd also like to point out that Karina Frederiks Aziz didn't have the knowledge or experience to perform at the level she sought (1.40 -1.50m). Along with myself, she called on the services of some fifteen trainers (!), including Henk Noreen, Juan-Carlos Garcia, Ian Millar, Beth Underhill, and Ainsley Vince, who was also assigned by the Aziz family in the interest of horse trade and sales. Having or hiring so many trainers is suspect, to say the least, in our show-jumping milieu.
What the Aziz family forgets to mention is that, among other things, several other young horses purchased for Ainsley Vince were successful in reaching Grand Prix level. For example, the horses Top Gun and Cantero were valued at Grand Prix level, and the Azizes received high purchase offers, which they turned down.
Others were returned because they were considered “dangerous” or not up to quality, such as Nosco de Blondel, despite accumulating some good results for Karina Frederiks Aziz and Ainsley Vince at the 1.40m level. After they returned Nosco de Blondel, he went on to become individual European reserve champion in young riders (U21) and team bronze medalist at Ebreichsdorf in Austria in 2012 with Petronella Andersson. Perhaps this gelding was not ultimately the desired fit for Aziz, but a medal with a young rider at 1.50m is evidence he was both safe and capable at this level.
It should be noted that all the horses I sold to the Aziz family had naturally undergone a meticulous veterinary examination by the buyer's veterinarian (Iron Horse Farm Inc.) as specified on the invoices and sales contracts issued by Torrey Pines Stable and therefore accepted following this visit.
“To begin, I am truly heartbroken that the community, which I have loved dearly for more than 30 years of my life, would feel as though they were misled regarding my state of health or that I would be capable of such a harmful lie. That was never my intention nor the reality. I have made efforts toward medical privacy only to protect my experimental treatment plan and emotional well-being during this extremely challenging and frightening life-or-death time. Yet instead, vicious rumors arose surrounding the legitimacy of my tumor, among other things, and as they often do, these rumors quickly spiraled far from my control and, most importantly—the truth. I was unable to respond to the accusations against me, the most recent of which dates back to last August, because of the severity of my condition and the advice from my counsel. I only ask that those who rushed to judgment and assumption would instead try to understand why I have struggled with enduring such a vulnerable experience so publicly.
I'd like to be clear that I don't feel any real anger but rather a great deal of sadness for having been ostracized by the horse world in this way and seeing my reputation tarnished after a dreamlike career. At times, this has been too much to bear and contributed to a major setback when combined with my illness, which has weakened me immensely, both physically and mentally.
Indeed, I am proud of my career and accomplishments; no one can take that away from me, but even more so to have been part of enabling Canada to regain its place among the best nations in the world alongside a team of many dedicated and hardworking individuals. Having Canada in the finest Nations Cups, from Aachen to the final in Barcelona, has filled me with immense pride. Thus, it is devastating to find myself today completely abandoned by the very federation to which I have contributed so much and without support in the darkest hour of my life. This treatment deeply hurts me and was even denounced by certain commentators during the recent Olympic Games.
In these cases, rumors and untruths led to summonses, and the summonses gave way to more rumors that further tarnished my reputation and sidelined me from a sport that was my whole life and kept me alive in my hardest moments. I've never claimed to be perfect; my past excesses are well known, but my symptoms were the result of my tumor and entirely unrelated to any substances.
What I'm suffering from most today is not being able to ride, compete, or be in contact with horses due to this legal harassment. This sport was my passion. With better counsel, better support, and better health, I should never have lost these trials, which shouldn’t have occurred in the first place.
First, I'd like to comment on the Iron Horse Farm Inc.-Aziz family case, in which I was convicted by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on August 8.
I sold a dozen horses to the Aziz family (Iron Horse Farm Inc.), and I'd like to stress that these horses met the standard for which they were sold when they changed
hands, as I'll document later. I'd also like to point out that Karina Frederiks Aziz didn't have the knowledge or experience to perform at the level she sought (1.40 -1.50m). Along with myself, she called on the services of some fifteen trainers (!), including Henk Noreen, Juan-Carlos Garcia, Ian Millar, Beth Underhill, and Ainsley Vince, who was also assigned by the Aziz family in the interest of horse trade and sales. Having or hiring so many trainers is suspect, to say the least, in our show-jumping milieu.
What the Aziz family forgets to mention is that, among other things, several other young horses purchased for Ainsley Vince were successful in reaching Grand Prix level. For example, the horses Top Gun and Cantero were valued at Grand Prix level, and the Azizes received high purchase offers, which they turned down.
Others were returned because they were considered “dangerous” or not up to quality, such as Nosco de Blondel, despite accumulating some good results for Karina Frederiks Aziz and Ainsley Vince at the 1.40m level. After they returned Nosco de Blondel, he went on to become individual European reserve champion in young riders (U21) and team bronze medalist at Ebreichsdorf in Austria in 2012 with Petronella Andersson. Perhaps this gelding was not ultimately the desired fit for Aziz, but a medal with a young rider at 1.50m is evidence he was both safe and capable at this level.
It should be noted that all the horses I sold to the Aziz family had naturally undergone a meticulous veterinary examination by the buyer's veterinarian (Iron Horse Farm Inc.) as specified on the invoices and sales contracts issued by Torrey Pines Stable and therefore accepted following this visit.