Content advisory: This article includes details of alleged sexual assault.
A Canadian equestrian coach who was given a lifetime ban for sexually abusing a teenage girl may be allowed to resume his coaching career after an arbitrator reduced his sanction to four years, determining the coach does not pose an ongoing risk because he provided positive character references and that a permanent sanction would unfairly affect his ability to make a living.
The decision, issued by arbitrator Janie Soublière on Feb. 17, stems from a challenge brought by Dayton Gorsline after he was permanently banned from coaching in Equestrian Canada-sanctioned events in 2025.
Soublière reduced Gorsline’s sanction to four years and gave him the opportunity to apply to be reinstated to participate in community activities, events or programs, at Equestrian Canada’s “sole discretion,” within two years.
The original ruling found that Gorsline engaged in sexual maltreatment of a minor, along with physical maltreatment, grooming and boundary violations.
According to Soublière’s 67-page decision, which was published last week by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), the complainant came forward in May 2024 when she learned through the media that Gorsline was working as a youth development advisor with Equestrian Canada.
The complainant, who is now 55, alleged to the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC) that Gorsline, her former coach, sexually and physically abused her in several Western Canadian provinces over a five-year period starting in 1983 when she was 12.
(The OSIC was created in 2022 to receive and investigate complaints of abuse and misconduct in elite Canadian amateur sports. The OSIC has been replaced by Sport Integrity Canada. Appeals of sanctions by Sport Integrity Canada and its predecessor can be made to the SDRCC. Soublière’s decision is final since no appeal was filed within the required 30 days.)
An OSIC investigator subsequently determined that Gorsline regularly hugged the complainant in private settings and held her hand, repeatedly cuddled with her and spooned her on a couch, slapped her on the buttocks, kissed her on the cheek, regularly touched her breasts over her bra, and stimulated her genitals under her clothes on two occasions, Soublière’s decision said.
The arbitrator noted that the OSIC investigator, who is not identified, made their findings on a “balance of probabilities.” That means the investigator must be satisfied there is a greater than 50 per cent likelihood that the facts support the conclusion. That threshold, which is also used in civil lawsuits, is lower than the burden of proof required in criminal cases, where the prosecution must establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even though Soublière upheld the findings of sexual misconduct, she concluded that Gorsline does not pose an ongoing threat to minors, a decision she said was supported by 12 character references submitted on his behalf.
“[Gorsline] is clearly loved and respected by the equine community and relied upon by the athletes he coaches,” Soublière wrote. “He does not have any other violations or disciplinary findings cited against him. He does not appear to pose any risk to anyone in the equestrian community, much the opposite when one considers the contents of the athlete affidavits.”
Of the 12 affidavits filed by Gorsline’s legal team, eight were from athletes working with him immediately preceding the suspension, Gorsline’s lawyer Elliot Saccucci wrote.
Soublière wrote that at times during the relevant period, the complainant lived with Gorsline with the knowledge of her family. The arbitrator accepted the investigator’s findings that Gorsline exercised significant control over the then-teenager’s daily life, including providing housing and transportation, establishing what was described as a clear power imbalance.
In June 2025, Gorsline was banned for life by Dasha Peregoudova, the OSIC’s director of sanctions and outcomes.
In reviewing Gorsline’s appeal of his lifetime ban, Soublière wrote in her decision that sanctions under the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS) must be “proportionate and reasonable” and take into account a range of factors, including the respondent’s future risk to participants, the impact on the complainant, and the broader public interest.
“The interested party was a vulnerable child who experienced a difficult home life,” Soublière wrote. “She was then placed under the care of [Gorsline], her riding coach, who she looked to as a parental figure and as a person of extreme trust. The Respondent abused this position of trust and authority to sexually abuse her. There is no place in sport for coaches who abuse the athletes entrusted to them.”
Soublière wrote she would have upheld Gorsline’s lifetime ban if the sexual misconduct involved vaginal intercourse.
“To leave no stones unturned, the arbitrator deems it imperative to state that had any sexual relations (sexual intercourse or oral sex) occurred between the parties, a successful rebuttal of the presumptive sanction, at any juncture of a proceeding, would have been extremely unlikely if not impossible, whether the allegation was historical or not.”
Soublière’s ruling also said that Gorsline has admitted to hitting the complainant at a horse show one time and that he was immediately remorseful. He also has admitted “giving [the complainant] a gift for Christmas and a hug here or there for doing well in a competition.”
Gorsline has also admitted there was an incident when he was driving in a Ford Bronco with the complainant when she pulled his hand into her vaginal region “for a quick second. He also expressed extreme remorse for this incident stating that he has been ‘disgusted by it’ since.”
Saccucci said he represented Gorsline for his appeal and believes the OSIC investigation was flawed. He wrote in a statement to TSN that he had hoped to have Gorsline’s sanction completely removed.
“We are disappointed for our client that we did not overturn this case,” Saccucci wrote. “But we are glad the arbitrator considered the record and the absence of any cases before the tribunal capable of justifying a lifetime ban in these circumstances.”
An Equestrian Canada spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
Gorsline is one of 10 people who face safe sport sanctions who are listed on the organization’s website. The website says Gorsline was given a lifetime suspension on June 11, 2025, for boundary transgressions, grooming and physical and sexual maltreatment. It’s unclear when Gorsline will be eligible to resume coaching.
The complainant, whose identity is not disclosed in the appeal decision, told TSN in an interview that she was disappointed with Soublière’s ruling.
“I’ve been living in a state of permanent trauma and now [Soublière] says what happened to me wasn’t that bad because it wasn’t sexual intercourse,” the complainant said. “[Gorsline] has taken no responsibility in this, and now I’m asking myself if it was worth two years of my life to go through this process.”
Hilary Findlay, a retired sport management professor at Brock University who still publishes research on safe sport issues, reviewed Soublière’s decision and called it “well-reasoned.”
Findlay said the fact Gorsline and the complainant did not have sexual intercourse appeared to be a primary factor in Soublière’s decision. Findlay noted that the arbitrator described Gorsline’s abuse of the complainant as “serious to be sure but not egregiously so.”
“I think there were still some risk-management measures the arbitrator could have insisted on, such as Gorsline not being allowed to coach children or to coach alone without supervision,” Findlay said in an interview with TSN.
Soublière wrote in her decision that she weighed the consequences of a permanent ban on the coach’s ability to earn a living.
“The stakes in this case are quite high given that the [Gorsline’s] livelihood is on the line and has effectively been taken away,” Soublière wrote, adding that a lifetime ban would strip Gorsline, who is 70, of his “right to freely exercise his profession.”
“Coaching equestrian sport is the only means of employment [Gorsline] has had for the greater part of his adult life,” Soublière wrote.
“[Gorsline’s] age was not considered, but it is relevant. Even the imposition of a 5-year ban on an individual of [his] age would be akin to imposing a 40-year ban on an individual in their 30s. As he appears to have only ever coached equestrian sport, given his age, it is hard to contemplate what other meaningful work [Gorsline] might be able to find if banned for an excessive period.”
Brandon Trask, a former Crown Attorney who teaches law at the University of Manitoba and who reviewed Gorsline’s case, called Soublière’s decision “disturbing.”
“Saying Gorsline has a right to make a living in sports is troubling,” Trask said in an interview with TSN. “It’s akin to allowing a pediatrician who has abused a child to continue treating children and saying, ‘What can we do? He has to make a living.’”
Trask also said Soublière should not have considered character-reference letters from athletes in her decision.
“What is an athlete going to say about their coach?” Trask said. “It’s like me as a professor asking my student for a reference. They aren’t going to be able to say much besides I’m a great guy.”
Soublière dismissed Gorsline’s allegations of investigative bias and denied Saccucci’s requests for additional disclosure, including details of sanctions in 190 other cases involving the OSIC.
