Horse Abusers Need to be stopped

[Todd & Toni Jones <tjones@coinet.com>]

I seldom get on here, preferring to just keep up
with the digests I get day after day.

Who is going to say someone is over riding a horse
at a ride? IF the horse is pulsing down at the vet
checks within the proper time, the vet is giving
the horse passing marks on his card, and the horse
is moving out sound, and the rider isn't cheating
like leaving before his out time... then what is
the vet suppose to do?  I do agree that other
riders can report it to ride management if need be
or try to talk to the person in question.

Certainly some people "get a reputation" after
attending some rides. Sometimes it is good and
sometimes it is bad. We are, overall, a small
group of people (endurance riders) and word
travels fast, good or bad, even without ridecamp.

But, if the horse is passing all the criteria,
within time frames, etc., then who decides someone
is "over riding" their horse? I look around me at
an endurance ride and see people I think have over
ridden their horse, but then after I listen and
ask around I find that these people have been
competing for years and the horse has 5,000+ miles
on him or her. So I change my mind and decide they
haven't "over ridden" their horse. They know what
they are doing and I, as a newbie, do not.

On the other hand, even though I take 9 hours to
complete a 50, a time that would not be considered
"over riding" by the endurance community. It IS
considered "cruel" to my horse by my trail riding
friends who feel 10 miles (in 3 hours) is long
enough and far enough. They "tsk, tsk" and say,
"your poor horse!" (Bother with me!)

I feel that the criteria in place is adequate and
the way that the vets and AERC are continually
striving to learn more and change things slowly
and thoughtfully, in the current manner, is
sufficient. I don't want more rules and regs. I
have enough of that in real life. Why I like
endurance is that I can complete the ride as fast
or as slow as my horse and the day allows.
Currently it is slow. Someday I hope to go faster.
Time will tell.

Maybe some horses "fall through a crack" in the
current system. This is sad, but it is life. Our
sport is monitered quite well, I feel, and I have
no problems with more criteria for the horse to
pass based on what we learn through our scientific
community. But I don't like the idea of someone
being labeled with a lemon award, or bad egg
award. If someone is mistreating a horse, then it
should go through the proper channels already in
place, and if we find this isn't working, then we
should work through the proper channels to correct
the overall problem.

I can  be as critical as the next person, but I
don't want to see the sport become known for
finger pointing.

later
toni and o'biwon
central oregon