"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

- Edmund Burke

4-h leader,
Candida Barbara
Anderson-Kachnik,
caught!
Plagiarism?
Read and judge for yourself!

See the articles side-by-side in Microsoft Word format or Adobe Acrobat Reader format.

Shall we condone this behavior through silence and apathy?

Is this the kind of person you could trust to board or haul or breed or train your horse, to teach your child?

Would you buy tack or feed or equipment or animals from her?  Would you trust that her items for sale are not stolen?

Would you trust her to purchase or sell (broker) a horse on your behalf?

Would you let her advertise your business or your consignment items?

To make up your own informed mind, please
read the forums
and open your eyes to her other schemes (including her involvement in the death of a horse she
surrendered to
Alaska Equine Rescue).

On February 23, 2004, Heather Fair was surfing the web late one night and looking for interesting horse-related information. Mrs. Fair came across the "Northern Horse Source" website and browsed through all the articles in the archives. She read several items that day but one caught her eye. It was entitled, "Getting your horse back in shape" and the byline read "Candi Kachnik" (as seen in its original online form here: http://web.archive.org/web/20040104074349/http://northernhorsesource.com/horseinshape.htm). The article, it seems, had been published in the Northern Horse Source's March/April 2003 issue both in print and on the net.

Having been a member of Candida Barbara Anderson-Kachnik's online chat group (AHI) for some time, Mrs. Fair had become familiar with Mrs. Anderson-Kachnik's writing style and general horse knowledge.  This article, however, was completely unlike Candi and Mrs. Fair was immediately suspicious that the scope of the article was even within Candi's expertise, let alone the apparent eloquence within her grasp.  So Mrs. Fair took a couple of key phrases and plugged them into Google. She did not really expect to find anything but there it was, this phrase, "as beckoning as the sunlight and pussywillow buds" gave me a single result: http://www.geocities.com/heartland/valley/1633/springing.html. She couldn't believe her eyes. She read and re-read both articles and although Candi had chopped a lot of the article down to size, she found only one difference: the name of the horse. This was blatant, word-for-word plagiarism and it had been so easy to find! She just couldn't believe that anyone thought they could get away with such a thing.

Mrs. Fair immediately discussed her findings with a few friends to verify that what she was seeing was real.  After much discussion, they thought it best to pass on the concern to the original author. One friend also emailed the NHS to give them an opportunity to respond.  The original author had no idea about this theft and she was understandably quite upset. She did not know Candi and she had never heard of the "Northern Horse Source".  She had not given permission to NHS to reprint her article. The author had not been compensated for the use of her article and most damning of all, there was no reason for Candi's name to be on the byline as the author. The original author did not know any of the people that contacted her with their concerns of the plagiarism so she contacted the NHS directly.

Apparently, the original author is a college graduate, an accomplished writer, and an experienced horse trainer; her experiences emanate from this article.  The original article was written prior to 1994 and it had been on the author's website for all to see for some time. It appears that Candi took it upon herself to change the byline to her own name and as an employee of NSH, submit it for publication. The original author contacted NHS and asked for an explanation, putting them on notice that the article had been stolen. In response, NHS relocated the page briefly to http://www.northernhorsesource.com/id57.shtml.  As far as we know, Candi and NHS have always denied any wrong-doing but Candi will not say whether or not she wrote the article.  Worse yet, Candi and NHS challenge that the original author may have stolen the article from Candi!  NHS moved the article on their website out of public view altogether, which begs the question, if there was no wrong-doing on their part and the article was not stolen by Candi but instead from Candi, then why did they feel compelled to remove it?.

The original author has had this article published across the country since 1994 and can show proof that she wrote it long prior to Candi's alleged plagiarism in 2003. Notice the copyright clause on the bottom of the original author's work, "© Copyright 1998-2000 Shadowood. All rights reserved to all text on this and all other pages within the Shadowood website. Do not copy, reprint, publish, or in any other way use any of this material without prior written consent of the Shadowood site owner. Links to these pages, however, are both allowed and appreciated. thank you!"  As best we can tell, in 1994, Candi would have been about 14-15 years old and many that have known her since then can tell you she never had the knowledge demonstrated in this article.

So what's the harm in all this, you may be asking?  Why should anyone care?

• First, plagiarism is illegal.
• Second, the original author spent much effort crafting this gem. She is normally paid for such work and she has a reputation from such toils. How would you feel if someone came and stole your paycheck?
• Third, advertisers paid money to support the NHS never knowing they were supporting allegedly illegal activities. After this, how can you ever trust that any of the content in NHS is not stolen?
• Fourth, Candi teaches children and horse "newbies".
• Fifth, Candi claims to have years of experience training horses - wouldn't you like to know if your instructor or horse trainer can really do all the things she claims? Afterall, you are paying for that skill set and if they don't have it, how can they pass it on to you? Don't you want to spend your money with a real accomplished trainer/instructor rather than a pretender? Would someone without the claimed skill set be capable of safely and humanely training your horse and instructing you in its handling? This is why it's so important to know your trainer, instructor, 4-H leader, child care professional, etc.

Until shortly before she left Alaska, Candi was a 4-h leader. Surely plagiarism is against the rules and ethics of a 4-h leader. Surely children should know that this is amoral, unethical, illegal, and downright wrong. Surely parents would want to know what kind of an example Candi is setting for their children?  Surely people would not want to pay for stolen "expertise"!

See the articles in question side-by-side in Microsoft Word format or Adobe Acrobat Reader format.

However you feel about Mrs. Candida Barbara Anderson-Kachnik, please become informed about those to whom you entrust your child's or horse's care.  Please join the forums and read the archived messages, including a number of posts made by "Wally" (who we believe originated from Candi posing as her husband, Walter), and make your own informed decision.

Thanks to all that called the local Cooperative Extension service to demand that they enforce their standard of ethics for 4-h leaders on Mrs. Anderon-Kachnik.  We owe it to our children and our community to stand up for the program's integrity.

Candi recently relocated to Spokane, Washington and she has been working at Twin Willows Equestrian Center near Deer Park as a "natural horsemanship" trainer and instructor.  Before leaving Alaska, Mrs. Anderson-Kachnik tried to sue Mrs. Heather Fair for slander, apparently blaming her for all her problems with her business (Horsin' Around Alaska) and personal life.  The case was dismissed.  The file is public knowledge and interested parties are encouraged to read the file at the Palmer Court House. Please note the vagueness of the original claim and the strange lack of filings on the part of the plaintiff (Candida Barbara Anderson-Kachnik, filed as "Candi Anderson").  To read more about this incident, please follow the link here.