The equestrian sport of dressage became the backdrop for a simmering feud between former U.S. Olympian Michael Barisone and promising trainee Lauren Kanarek. These tensions culminated in a violent confrontation that left Kanarek fighting for her life and Barisone fighting for his freedom in court.
The Netflix documentary Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill premieres Tuesday, April 21, and examines the prolonged dispute between Barisone and Kanarek. The pair waged a war of words in person and over social media, resulting in Barisone’s near-fatal shooting of Kanarek in August 2019 at the titular farm.
Barisone, a former dressage star who agreed to mentor Kanarek, was charged with two counts of attempted murder, but found not guilty by reason of insanity. The film features new interviews with both figures and examines what happened before and during Barisone’s trial.
Here’s everything you need to know about Barisone’s career and life today following his acquittal.
Who Is Michael Barisone?
Barisone was 58 years old at the time of his trial in April 2022, placing him around 62 years old now. He rose to prominence as a competitor in the equestrian sport of dressage.
In dressage, horses perform a memorized sequence of movements and gaits, with the rider providing subtle cues through their legs, riding seat, and reins. The standard competition space is a riding arena measuring 60 meters long and 20 meters wide.
Barisone won more than 100 Grand Prix events during his career, according to the United States Eventing Association (USEA). His business website stated he was a member the 2008 U.S. Olympic team and won a gold medal in the 1997 Nations Cup in England. He became a coach and was a member of the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s board of directors.
“Training horses is a lot like raising children. All the kids in the eighth grade have to act the same, regardless of how far they might go in life. Don’t grant exceptions for inappropriate behavior or allow shortcuts because the horse is talented,” Barisone told USEA.
Barisone humorously tutored comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert about the ins and outs of dressage on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics.
However, there was nothing funny about the events that unfolded between himself and an aspiring dressage champion named Lauren Kanarek.
Why Did Michael Barisone Shoot Lauren Kanarek?
Barisone first met Kanarek in 2018 and offered to train her in dressage at his Hawthorne Hill farm in Long Valley, New Jersey, according to DailyRecord.com.
Kanarek testified in court she attended a dressage clinic hosted by Barisone and agreed to begin a professional relationship with him. She aspired to “be the best rider that I can be, and develop my horses to the top levels of the sport,” and thought working with Barisone was “probably a good idea.” Kanarek paid $5,000 per month to train as a rider, board her horses, and live on the farm with her boyfriend, Rob Goodwin, according to CBS News.
However, their working relationship quickly tarnished. Staff members at Hawthorne Hill told 48 Hours that Kanarek demanded more personal training with Barisone as opposed to his assistants. In July 2019, she posted a cryptic message on her Facebook page: “It’s about time to possibly go to war. Anyone who repeatedly kicks a resting beast will eventually wake her up!” Soon after, she wrote additional posts accusing Barisone of being racist, homophobic, and antisemitic.
Barisone has vehemently denied all of these characterizations and claimed Kanarek and Goodwin were harassing him. He alleged the pair began squatting on his property even though he asked them to leave following completion of Kanarek’s training. Barisone told 48 Hours he called police four times to help with the dispute, but authorities didn’t intervene. His attorneys also claimed Kanarek and Goodwin reported a false claim of child abuse, prompting a visit from child protective services. Barisone was living with his then-fiancée, Mary Haskins Gray, and her two children at the time.
On August 7, 2019, Barisone retrieved a 9mm handgun from his safe and confronted Kanarek and Goodwin. When police arrived at the scene, they discovered Kanarek, then 38, in critical condition from two gunshot wounds and Goodwin subduing a badly beaten Barisone. The latter was charged with two counts of attempted murder and faced up to 80 years in prison.
What Happened During Michael Barisone’s Trial?
Kanarek, now around 45, was placed in a medically induced coma and underwent surgery to repair her left lung after the shooting, and eventually recovered, according to ESPN.
Meanwhile, Barisone remained in custody for more than two years until the start of his trial in March 2022. It lasted two weeks and was held at the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown, New Jersey.
The defense team argued Barisone was legally insane at the time of the shooting, having been driven to a mental breakdown because of repeated harassment from Kanarek and Goodwin. “At the time of the shooting my client feared for his life,” his attorney Ed Bilinkas said, according to NJ.com. “He was suffering from a mental disease and did not know what he was doing was wrong.”
Barisone claimed he remembered going into his office, but not retrieving the gun or shooting Kanarek. Dr. Steven Simring, a psychiatrist, testified that Barisone developed a delusional disorder through Kanarek’s social media use and other incidents.
Prosecutors countered the shooting of Kanarek wasn’t justified based on these circumstances. “Saying nasty things, misbehaving if you will, none of that is a justification to be shot. None of that creates a necessity to kill,” prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn said.
Ultimately, the jury found Barisone not guilty by reason of insanity on two charges of attempted murder. He was also acquitted on additional weapons charges.
Where Is Michael Barisone Now?
Within weeks of the verdict, Barisone was transferred to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. He was cleared for release sometime around November 2023, according to the New York Post.
U.S. Equestrian cites Barisone’s most recent place of residence as Long Valley, New Jersey. Journalist Nancy Jaffer reported in 2025 that Barisone had returned to his property in Florida and continues to ride and train horses. He is now engaged to Lara Osborne.
Osborne established a GoFundMe page in April 2022 titled “Help Michael Barisone rebuild his life.” The campaign has raised more than $85,000. Osborne regularly shares details on Barisone’s life and legal proceedings in the page’s update section.
“Michael is doing well, he is working around the farm, getting things back in order after being gone for so long,” she wrote in February 2026.
Months earlier, in December 2025, Barisone was ruled permanently ineligible in U.S. Equestrian Federation dressage competition. With the ruling from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, he is “prohibited from participating in any activities and competitions that USEF licenses, endorses, or sponsors” due to sexual harassment, emotional misconduct, and violating National Governing Body (NGB) policies. However, the decision is subject to an appeal from Barisone and not yet finalized.
According to Osborne, he is awaiting arbitration with SafeSport. “They have been found to have withheld exculpatory evidence in yet another case, and have shown that they ultimately don’t care about the truth once they have set their sights on someone,” she commented on the GoFundMe page.
Osborne also wrote Barisone is part of an ongoing lawsuit against USEF.
Did Michael Barisone Participate in Untold?
According to Osborne, the producers of Untold reached out to the couple’s legal team to inquire about their participation in the documentary. She refuted claims the pair were paid “upwards of six figures for their interviews,” adding they took part with no payment.
“Our team provided the Untold staff with literally hundreds of pages of evidence obtained from discovery in the criminal case,” Osborne revealed in another post. “While nearly all of this information was excluded from Michael’s criminal trial under the judge’s interpretation of the rules of evidence in criminal proceedings, those items will likely come up in the documentary as they will in our ongoing litigation with the USEF as well as SafeSport.” Neither she nor Barisone has seen a final cut of the documentary, or is aware of its contents.
Watch Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill Starting April 21
Both Barisone and Kanarek appear in the documentary trailer, hinting both will appear prominently.
You can form your own interpretation of the complicated case when Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill begins streaming Tuesday, April 21, on Netflix.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
