Charges only pertain to AERC members

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

> Ok This is probably a really stupid question but if somebody rides >
theirhorse to death wouldn't that be an animal abuse charge? Aerc >
wouldn't even> have to come into it the actual court system would handle
it?

Folks...would everybody just stop and think about this for a minute? 
I've been competing for 14 years and I've seen one horse die and that one
shouldn't have (the vets left the grounds after one bag of fluids and the
horse went down like 12 hours later).  In comparison, I've seen one horse
die on a regular cowboy trail ride, another while being lounged in an
arena...and three in one evening of racing at Pompano Park Race Track.

All the good thoughts in the world aren't going to bring that mare back,
but jumping to change rules could sure cause some problems.  Do you
honestly want a court of law...which knows nothing about endurance or the
stresses involved, and LAWYERS, trying to regulate what goes on in our
sport? Want to make it less personable, try making everyone worry about
covering their own liability if they let a particular horse go on.
"Excuse me Dr. XXX DVM, you obviously allowed this horse to continue on,
even though his CRI went up one beat...you share the blame for this
attrocity".  Now *that*'ll make it easy to get vets.

Linda, we've got a good system.  We're using it.  This could have been
brought up in Endurance News and discussed in the old days (yes, there
*was* life before the internet) and the problems would be
addressed...slowly and thoughtfully, not coming up like a sudden
thundershower on Ridecamp, then fading away as fast as it came.  It's not
a fool proof system, because we have fools in our sport occasionally, but
we do have the right to deny the guilty parties entry in rides.  

I'm sorry someone who heard of an injustice didn't get instant results
from the system...but justice takes time.  So what if you didn't see the
19 year old's mentor hanging by their thumbs? That doesn't mean that
other endurance riders, managers, and board members didn't take note of
the event and won't take it into account when planning their next
competition.  Believe it or not, you're not the only person out there who
cares about our horses.  Just because we don't think Ridecamp is the
proper format for this discussion does not mean we are "sweeping it under
the rug".  

Angie


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