Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

In form of introduction, I am Richard m Levine from Houston, Tx.

I have been a reader of this list for about 4 years now, I seldom post, but 
read all your mail each day.
I do not participate in Endurance or Competitive Trail personally but have 
many friends that do so.
We have tried to reward your activities here in Region 9 where I reside by 
including your events in our annual "Region 9 Amateur and Junior High Point 
Awards Program". I was the founder of this program and served as it's 
chairman for the past 5 years.

Every once in a while I see posts about non related Endurance topics, and 
often they may not truly represent clearly the topic at least as I know it 
to be. I have been showing as an Amateur, Arabian and Half Arabian Horses, 
at Open, Arabian Class A & Region levels, and at Pinto Area and World shows 
now for the past 22 years.

I have shown on the East, West and Gulf Coasts during this timeframe and 
have seen many changes take place during that timeframe. I am well versed on 
the past and current rulebooks as regards abuse, and I do manage to get 
around at the shows on the backside and dont miss too much.
When I am not in the ring, or back at the stalls, I am watching horses warm 
up and enter and then watch their classes. The incidense of abuse which I 
did see way back in the 80's has been curtailed to the point where I do not 
see much or any evidence of it in recent years. Does it happen, you bet, is 
it as rampant as the recent posters would lead you to believe, no way.

Many exhibitors have even gone to the point of not entering the ring with a 
whip at all, and simply take in with them a peppermint, or a piece of hay to 
get those ears up while in front of the judge, strictly leagl by the way..My 
problem is now I own several perrmint junkies!

If you take th eitme to read the current rule books, both AHA & USEF, you 
will see what is expected from an exhibitor and what is not to be tolerated.

If you ever attend an AHA show and witness any type of prohibited abuse, it 
should be immediately reported to the Ring Steward, who has a sworn 
responsibility to investigate. There are strong penalty solutions if indeed 
it is proven that this took place. Taking a photo of it when it is in 
progress would be helpful, but whip marks and welts speak volumes to both a 
judge and steward.
Thru the years I have seen horses excused from the ring for such marks.

Of course catching them in the act is all they need to proceed against the 
offending exhibitor, Pro or Amateur.

We show a yearling this year, Half Arabian, who is holding 4th place Halter 
ranking in the Nation. We show without a whip, stand him up stock horse 
style against some very spirited NSH type horses, and still manage to hold 
our own....He, like his older stable mate has in the past is leading R9 for 
HA of all ages. We have taken home 3 year end R9 HP Halter awards, which 
means we are out there campaigning. If I ever would personally see any abuse 
taking place, you would have to race me to the steward to see to it that it 
gets stopped on the spot.

In summary, I believe the Arabian industry has come a long way in curtailing 
this type of activity, but it is up to each one of us to make sure it stops 
100% and is eliminated. Unfortunately whenever there is a prize or title of 
any type on the line, there will always be a minority that put the horses 
welfare second, to their ego, and will go to any length to succeed....

By the way, the Scottsdale show is not a "National Show", it is a Class A 
show that carries a lot of importance to those seeking a National win, but 
is not a National show. Only the US Nationals, Canadian Nationals, US Youth 
Nationals, and the US National Sporthorse shows carry that unique 
classification.

P.S. It is hard to beliive that the Walking Horse industry had not come to 
this juncture sooner. If memory serves me correct it was about 20 years ago 
that they were under similiar Government sanctions. One would have thought 
they would have cleaned up their act by now.

Regards,

Richard M Levine
Rainbow Arabians
Houston, tx.



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