Re: RC: Abusive rider

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/1/00 4:37:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
guest@endurance.net writes:

<< barb bkcbs@hotmail.com
 "It is my experience in life that those who rush to judgement tend to have 
hidden character defects. That those who stridently accuse do so to cover 
their own weaknesses.
 Based on the facts presented thus far, the rider in question is clearly 
innocent of intentionally killing his horse. And, judging from the quality 
(or lack of quality) of the information presented thus far, innocent of all 
else as well. It may be that he exhibited, now and in the past, bad 
judgement--but that is far from demonstrated here with these silly emotings. "
 
 Finally someone has the balls to out a chronic abusive rider, and you attack 
him.  This is exactly why people hesitate to get involved. Many of us could 
be considered complicit in the horse's demise, because we were afraid to say 
anything, or didn't know what to say, or were afraid of retaliation or being 
sued.>

Talk is cheap. It's the easiest way to "get off" on the internet. It's the 
very lowest common denominator.  And within that low category is the lowest 
of talk--selfrighteous indignation spewed without fact to back it up, in 
order to make oneself appear reasonably angelic in contrast. It is the oldest 
form of hipocrisy, made "respectable" by the Inquisition. 

 >  "The indisputable point is, had this horse not raced he'd be alive 
today.">

Bullshit. That's akin to saying that if everyone had stayed home, no horse at 
all would have died, been injured, or even experienced an elevated heartrate. 

> This poor creature was abused ...not just this once, but many many times, 
only this time proved too much for the valiant animal.>

Prove it. Or shut up.

> I feel no pity for this rider...he has no empathy for the horse.. that's 
painfully obvious.>

To whom? You? What, precisely, do you know, for sure, that we don't know?

>  I sincerely hope he  feels remorse and  pain at the animal's death..maybe 
it will cure him of ego-riding. Maybe he'll consider the horse's 
feelings...maybe, better yet, he'll go back to motorbike racing which is a 
better sport for him.>

And I sicnerely hope that you get off on this attack to the extent that we 
don't have to put up with another sanctimonious emotional outburst in the 
near future. 

 >  The fact remains...what do you do to curb people (there ARE others like 
him) who jeopardize this sport's reputation.>

A dozen things, which I'm sure you haven't taken the time or effort to think 
about or implement. Start with better onsite diagnostics leading to more 
accurate VC criteria--and go on from there. Meanwhile, keep the emoters the 
hell out of the way as best you can--they're completely useless and have 
their own agendas which have nothing to do with reality.

 

 > People in other riding disciplines have long looked down their noses at 
Endurance, I believe in part, because of the potential for abuse (that is not 
to say there isn't abuse in other disciplines). In the last 5 years or so, 
the Endurance community has worked hard to improve its reputation.  Deaths 
connected with rides are a black eye. So are dead-tired horses.>

Posturing is not the solution--again, talk is the very cheapest commodity 
known to man--you're an excellent example of airheaded cheap talk. As a 
matter of actual fact, endurance horses are the very best conditioned equine 
athletes in existence, and endurance horsemen are the most aware horsemen in 
existence. This I tell you from 27 years experience in nearly all the equine 
athletic disciplines. Still, obviously, the sport has its share of airheads. 

 
 >  I am totally in favor of Australia's horse passport system (i think they 
do this in Europe too).  Yeah, it's more rules, more regulations, and many of 
us are in this sport because we rebel against too much control. BUT if it 
will save a horse's life, then I am all for it. So let's use this incident to 
galvanize this horse community.
 -b>

"This incident" is not the basis for a political movement. It is not the 
launchpad for 1,001 emotional outbursts. It is just another lesson, and a 
somewhat confusing one, due to irrational outbursts like yours, that we can 
all learn from. 

Get a brain. 

ti