I think that we need to be very careful in all our zeal to keep everyone
honest, ( honesty or manners being something that we can not legislate
anyhow) that we do not remove the discretion / decision making power, of the
ride manager in these things. There are so many situations that are
absolutely unpredictable, and we could get strangled in allot of little rules,
that we can not possibly keep up with. You wanna feel like you are in a
Dressage show ring?? The RM should have the discretion to decide whether
or not he/she wants to consider a rider a starter, if the rider stops for some
reason early on. Early on is obviously a rather ambiguous term, but again I
think that we need to be very careful not to choke our R.M.'s or our great sport
to death with pettiness, and bickering and creating more and more rules simply
because we have some personal gripe against a particular person. The R.M.'s must
have the discretion to make these decisions. The different situations that
can occur at rides with so many varied people, weather, terrain, etc. merit
different responses. Now if a RM is keeping the entry fees, and not reporting a
pull and not paying AERC, ethics are in question and that is something
different. And Yes I have seen that, but be clear, it was not at any XP
ride. I have seen in this sport a kind of a natural cleansing. Rides
come and go, some fizzle out, lack of attendance, nasty or abusive
treatment by RM's or hired staff, lousy vetting, allot of reasons, they
fizzle out, and if not corrected, do not come back to life.
Dave's rides are good, we are not nit-picked to death like some rides, nor are
we treated badly, nor are our horses in questionable hands. Laid back does
not mean lousy. Believe me I have seen lousy, been the victim of lousy, and this
is not it. Above all, the Duck cares about the horses more than he does
tomorrows entry fees, which is allot more than I can say for some other RM or
Vets. I make my living directly from this sport, and we who do, all hope to do
well. But take my word for it, the ones in it for money or ego, whether RM,
Vet's, Riders, Saddle Makers, Breeders, or any of the many services we
depend on to pack our flab down the trail, as the primary goal, will not last.
The truth will out. The horses must be far and away the biggest concern. It is
just the natural way of things, and it will prove out here, in this and all the
other little squabbles, and in the future of the sport. The heart of this sport
is bigger than any one person, rule, policy or greedy RM. Which Dave is not! The
heart of the sport is in the heart of the horses, I am very glad that our horses
that work so hard for us cannot read all this stuff. I don't think they
would want to go with us anymore. Annie G.
Anne George
Saddlery
www.vtc.net/~ageorge
[Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
---------------------~-->
Save on REALTOR Fees
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Xw80LD/h1ZEAA/Ey.GAA/87drlB/TM---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Your
use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
