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[RC] Paddi! Long Riders Guild Bashing the Dixie Midnight? - Ridecamp Guest

Please Reply to: Tina Rushing tina@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Posting as a guest because I'm at work.  This is almost funny it's soooo 
stupid.  Pasted from a post on a SF Bay Area "horse chat" board:
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The Long Riders? Guild seeks international investigation into floor mat being 
sold as a saddle pad The Long Riders? Guild, the world?s first international 
association of equestrian explorers, has issued a plea to legal authorities on 
three continents to investigate how a 3M corporation product, originally 
designed as an abrasive floor mat, is being resold as a saddle pad to 
unsuspecting horse owners.

The Guild became alarmed when horses belonging to equestrian explorers were 
injured after being fitted with what was being billed as the ?no sweat pad? in 
America and the ?cool breeze? saddle pad in England.

The international equestrian scandal was exposed when a British Long Rider 
discovered the ?saddle pad? lying in front of a Chilean supermarket, where it 
was being used in its original application as a door mat.

During the subsequent nine month inquiry Long Riders in five countries 
discovered that a 3M product known as ?Wet Area Matting 1500? is being 
knowingly sold by the corporation to individuals who cut the coarse synthetic 
material into saddle sized pieces.

The disguised floor mat, which 3M describes as being suitable for high traffic 
areas in sports centers, hotels and hospitals, is being remarketed as expensive 
saddle pads in the United States, England and Australia.

An example of this practice was uncovered when a colleague of The Guild 
telephoned the English offices of 3M to enquire if the company sold a saddle 
pad. A 3M spokesperson immediately supplied the name of a well known London 
saddle shop. At no time during the conversation did the 3M representative 
advise the caller that the product in question, now being called a ?cool breeze 
saddle pad,? was in reality a floor mat.

When contacted by The Long Riders? Guild, a 3M spokesman at the company?s 
corporate headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota confirmed that the company knew 
horses were being scarred and injured by the misuse of their product.

However, despite The Guild?s repeated requests that the company issue a public 
warning to horse owners worldwide, the 3M corporation refused to publicly 
acknowledge these documented concerns.

Furthermore, following The Guild?s requests for action, the company?s website 
has been altered and incriminating photographs which might link the floor mat 
to the so-called saddle pad were removed by 3M.

In order to alert the global equestrian community to this growing threat, The 
Long Riders? Guild has now dispatched its findings to equestrian editors around 
the world. This report includes all of our correspondence with 3M, interviews, 
photographs, the website links which 3M thought to alter and samples of the 
abrasive floor mat which were supplied to a Long Rider as a saddle-pad.

Additionally, The Guild has asked law enforcement agencies in the USA, Great 
Britain and Australia to undertake an immediate investigation into the 
businesses involved in the manufacture and sales of these potentially harmful 
?saddle pads? and to order this untested product to be withdrawn from the 
equestrian market.


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