Re: RC: horse cruelty

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

> BUT--it does seem clear to me that AERC needs to have a >system of >
suspension or some sort of preventative program in >place to keep >
ubusers from getting their horses in trouble.

Follow the Amish...SHUN them.  The sort of people who intentionally do
such things are slick. You'll probably only catch the poor shmuck who
accidently had a horse get in trouble while the jerk continues to ride. 
Picture Roger Rittenhouse at Biltmore. The guy doesn't go that fast, if
anything is trying too hard to do what's right, and you penalize him.
Meanwhile, EVERYBODY knows who the jerk is and they manage to slide
through.  These people have egos, and we don't have to feed them.

  I was at a ride where the novice vets screwed up and scored such that a
horse who probably shouldn't have completed got BC.  At the awards, the
manager didn't do the usual and call out the scores in reverse order and
make a big deal out of BC.  She said, sort of as an afterthought, "Oh
yeah, BC was ***, I forgot to bring the award up here, you can pick it up
at my trailer later".  Pretty obvious jab.  

We had one rider who I always felt over rode her horse.  This was a
person who liked to talk, and so do I. I found it difficult not to be
friendly to her off the trail.  It was hard, but after complaining behind
her back, and still being civil to her face I thought, "this is wrong"
and any time she came around I just left.  I had made up my mind that if
this person won our ride with a horse that looked bad I would give the
points, but we would hold the award. Fortunately, quite a few other
people started treating this person the same way and they left.  

There's some things you can't prove in court, but you know. I like stiff
guidelines, and I think we have some good ones.  I highly recommend
shunning as an addition to those rules.  These people have huge egos.
They want attention, and praise.  If they get neither, they won't get the
reinforcement to keep coming to rides.

Angie
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