Yea, that's it. Tell me to move to Australia because you don't like
the idea of any changes at all in endurance.
Hey, look, I have nothing to do with anything. I speak my mind; you
don't like what I have to say maybe you should move to a country where they
could shut someone like me up because you don't like it.
So sorry 11 deaths, 8 of them metabolic, aren't exciting enough for
you. You should enter the world of horse racing. Maybe their
numbers would excite you more.
OK, I promise not to mentor anyone until I meet your qualifications.
Horses are dying on our watch. You, Lauren, may not give a shit about
this, but I do. And, I feel others do also.
I remember Ridecamp, this time last year, folks like you saying,
"We don't need a Welfare of the Horse Committee. What good will
it do?" And, you know, when I left to go to the Convention I was
convinced, because of the number of folks who appeared to be against it on
Ridecamp, that it would never come to pass.
The thing is, it did come to pass. Incredible to me, even now.
Members showed up and made it happen. I'm hoping something similar
happens next year in Reno. I think there is a quiet majority out
there who are fed up with horses dying at endurance rides and not enough being
done about it to correct the problem. Now, the Welfare of the Horse
Committee comes up with its first proposal and everyone's bitching about
it.
I can't believe some of you are so upset about asking beginners to go
slow. Amazing to me since that's the number one piece of advice most of
ya'll have to give on this site to new riders. But, OMG, make it a rule,
and we need to knock that one right out of the box before it has any chance at
all in passing. Might take away someone's freedom or make some extra work
like record keeping (EGADS!!!!).
We'll see what happens at the Convention. Just ask yourself if you
think we're doing enough to prevent equine deaths at endurance rides. And,
ask yourself if you really believe 11 is the real number. Are any of you
willing to give up anything to save a horse at a ride? I mean, I know
you're all experts, have thousands of miles in completions, and nothing has ever
gone wrong at a ride with your horse. I guess as long as it doesn't happen
to you, then nothing else matters.
You know what? If any of that is true, you should be the ones jumping
at the chance to teach others at rides who don't know as much as you do.
But, I guess you're just too damn busy earning those miles and points and don't
have time for all that. Attitudes like yours, Lauren, will ensure nothing
will ever change and 11 deaths per year will remain the norm. Complacency,
like speed, will continue to kill.
If you want to do it the Aussie
way, move to Australia. Some people just need to do CTR. Howard doesn't
have a particularly good track record (860 endurance miles with two
metabolic pulls, both horses treated with one saved from the brink of
death) and he seems to be the loudest mouth on this subject. Are you going
to let someone like this come into this sport and change the rules??? The
thought of him mentoring someone is shocking. He needs the babysitter.
Don't let the loudest voices dictate to the rest of us what this sport
should "look like."
Sometimes I have found Howard to be entertaining
but his pertinacity on this subject is getting really old and
boring. Lauren
