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Re: [RC] Public Perception - Truman PrevattKathy,I don't know if I would go as far as point to one event. Ruffian was surely a tramatic event. But seeing horses break down on national TV at the Belmont, the Breeders Cup also points to the excessive risk placed on 2 and 3 yo's by the sport. However, I suspect you are right that many people are turned off at seeing race horses break down and want no part of the sport. Our (endurance) Achilles heel is the metabolic breakdown. How do you think it would look for someone to go to a "treatment barn" and see 20 horses standing on IV's? How do you think it would look for someone to see the backhoe out back preparing a grave? How does "82% of the horses that start an event having to be pulled because it is too much for them" looks? Don't get me wrong - if treatment is necessary then it should be given - however, standing with an IV in a vein is not the natural state of a horse. It is we humans that put them there. The perception of the "sick horse" I fear is a corollary of the curent trend in the WEC and other championship FEI rides (e.g. PAC). That perception is what can imapct all of us and why we must do all necessary to distance ourselves from this model of endurane racing. Least we be careful we will be painted with the same brush - and that brush doesn't paint a pretty picture. Truman Ridecamp Guest wrote: zero drug policy! We do not let people enter 3yo baby horses! We do not create and then destroy Ruffians! -- “It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard Feynman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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