Ridecamp post

[Paula C Gentry <pgentry@U.Arizona.EDU>]

Karen--

Re your post to Ridecamp about "cowboy" methods... hear, hear!! (I get the
digest so forwarding/replying with snips is a pain and I'm lazy) Excellent
post!

I am sorry to see that "cowboy" is turned into a dirty word on
Ridecamp. My current horse is a ranch horse, my previous horse was a ranch
horse, and all of my fiance's horses work for a living. Many cowboys are
fine horsemen, and cowhorses on ranches have to work hard. They are
expensive to replace. If I hadn't had to defend my heritage just this
morning at the barn, I probably could have kept my cyber-mouth shut, but
your reply galvnized me to add my $0.02.

Just as I'm sure many on Ridecamp get tired of defending endurance,
acknowledging that there are less-than-stellar examples of horsemanship
within the sport, I get tired of defending cowboys because of less-than-
stellar examples within the profession. Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance and Buck
Brannaman, pioneers of natural horsemanship, all cowboys. Hmm.

Back to lurking.

----------------------
Paula C Gentry, PhD
Department of Animal Science
University of Arizona
pgentry@U.Arizona.EDU

It is not knowing a lot but grasping things intimately and savoring them
which fills and satisfies the soul. 

--St. Ignatius--