Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Protecting Horses

> I am wondering why there is no such punishment to those riders that 
> do decide to ride to win and only to win...? They obviously don't 
> care enough about their horses, and will keep doing this until they 
> are stopped... Easy enough for them, if the horse is lame they load 
> them up and take them home, and next weekend there out again on 
> another ride.  If the horse is IVed they still don't learn.  So why 
> isn't there some sort of punishment..? The first time your horse is 
> IVed, you can't ride again till next year! There needs to be more 
> dicipline for those riders, otherwise people like myself and many 
> others will end up being  punished sooner or later, for their 
> carelessness. 
>
> Kori Byrd & Nantyka's April

Oh, Kori.  Some thoughts on your post (to thousands, worldwide)

What if your horse needed an IV, because she became dehydrated?  Was 
that necessarily your fault?  Would you hide your horse from the vet 
to avoid getting fluids for a problem because you felt there was a 
stigma in it?

No, of course not.  You love your horse.

But take a good look at what you wrote.  ""So why isn't there some 
sort of punishment..? The first time your horse is IVed, you can't 
ride again till next year!"

Would you stay in the sport if you were dinged for taking care of your horse?

Yes, some people never learn.

Then you said , "There needs to be more dicipline for those riders, 
otherwise people like myself and many others will end up being 
punished sooner or later, for their carelessness."

Meaning what?  A rule like if your horse is IVed, you can't ride 
again till next year?  Or more meaningful, perhaps, that there might 
be less freedom to ride your own ride?  Or no rides will be offered 
because RMs will quit in disgust from the behavior of a few bad 
apples?

Do you think the vets don't know who is doing this, in our region, 
and won't remember from ride to ride?  I think the vets are going to 
take care of this problem.

One of the riders you're talking about didn't do a ride for many many 
months after their horse's IV treatment last fall.  I'm not sure I 
agree that they're thrashing a horse and trying to do a ride the very 
next weekend, over and over.  As you know, we don't have that many 
rides on our schedule, to pull that off.

Peer pressure works--shun their company, don't be their friend at the 
rides and then deplore their treatment of their horses.

Hope to see you at Norco this year.

Happy iTrails,
Lynne

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