| Rich Fellers | |
| Full Name: | Richard Rankin Fellers |
| Nationality: | American |
| Birth Date: | 3 October 1959 |
| Birth Place: | Coos Bay, Oregon, United States |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Richard Rankin Fellers (born October 3, 1959) is an American former Olympic equestrian and horse trainer. In 2023 he pled guilty to sexually abusing one of his students when she was 17. According to the Washington County, Oregon district attorney, he will serve 30 months in state prison concurrently with a four year federal sentence.[1]
Fellers, the son of Richard D. and Colleen M. (Smith) Fellers,[2] was born in Coos Bay, Oregon.[3] [4] He graduated from Yamhill-Carlton High School in 1978,[5] and attended Oregon State University as an engineering major. He left the university in his junior year to start a riding business, and moved to California, where he met Michelle "Shelley" Bramble.[6] In 1987 they returned to Oregon, wed,[7] and started a family. They have a son and a daughter.
According to the U. S. Equestrian Foundation (USEF), when Fellers was eleven years old his birthday present was a two-year-old Appaloosa: "The short, stocky horse had a talent for jumping, and the pair eventually became winners from the West Coast U. S. Grand Prix circuit to Spruce Meadows in Canada."[8]
By 1988, Fellers had won the Arthritis Foundation Grand Prix at the Oaks in San Juan Capistrano three years in a row— twice riding the veteran mount Bailey's Irish Cream, and then on El Mirasol, his own 6-year-old chestnut thoroughbred.[9]
In 1998, the Calgary Herald reported on his wins at the North American show jumping championships: "In the long history of Spruce Meadows, no one could quite recall a week like Fellers had. Of the nine featured classes over five days of competition, Fellers finished either first or second in every single event."[10]
Fellers began riding Flexible, an Irish Sport Horse stallion, in 2002.[11] According to the USEF Network,
Fellers at age 52 and 16-year-old Flexible were the oldest pair in the show jumping finals at the World Cup finals in the Netherlands.[12] Flexible was retired in 2017, and he died of natural causes in 2021.[13]
A resident of Sherwood, Oregon,[14] Fellers and his wife Shelley operated Rich Fellers Stables in Oregon City, Oregon starting in 2011.[15] Fellers trained horses there, offering jumping lessons as well as purchasing and selling horses. Harry and Molly Chapman, the owners of Flexible, hired Fellers in 2012 to train their horses and ride their best in competition.
In 2021, the United States Center for SafeSport ruled Fellers ineligible to participate in the sport,[16] in connection with a criminal indictment.[17] Fellers initially denied allegations that he sexually abused a minor, pleading not guilty to all four criminal charges.
In March 2022 a Bloomberg News article about tensions between SafeSport and traditionalists explored the background to Feller's case.[18] His trial on the state charges was set for fall 2022[19] but was ongoing as of April 2023, when Washington County deputy district attorney Rayney Meisel confirmed that he expected the case to reach a resolution and global settlement, in coordination with federal prosecutors.[20]
Federal prosecutors brought charges in May 2023, the month after his wife Shelley filed for divorce. Fellers initially pled not guilty to those as well.[21] [22] He changed his plea to "guilty" in July 2023, as part of a plea deal which, per a statement from the Washington County district attorney's office, will result in a 30 month state sentence and a four year federal sentence.