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RE: [RC] trashing horses - David LeBlanc

Sheila said: 
 

Unfortunately, she still doesn't get it.  Now is riding a 
sweet little Arab the same way.  She has called me to invite 
me to ride and I declined and told her that she's way too 
fast for me and that I one of those riders that likes to ride 
the same horse for decades.  

 

I am mortified that I even let her in on "distance riding" 
and somehow feel a little bit responsible.   I know that's 
arrogant, but my concern is for these horses.  


I've seen riders do this at _all_ distances. If we click around on the
results for our regions, we're going to find riders who are usually 1st or
pull, and who have 60% completion rates. I was one of the last people to see
a horse who _died_ at the 2002 PanAm, and I'll never forget that as long as
I live.

This isn't an LD problem - it's a stupid, greedy, selfish person problem.
Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to fix that one.


Now I don't 
want to share with new people cause I know I can't control 
their behavior.  This is a ridiculous position, but I take my 
concern for the welfare of the horse pretty seriously.  


You just have to do the best you can. My wife and I have helped several
people get into the sport, and some worked out, others didn't. We haven't
had your experience, but we've had a similar experience with a horse not
being well taken care of.
 

Just another side of the coin, here.  I am not trying to 
offend the LD riders, but just trying to share a bad 
experience.  Hope this doesn't sound pompous.


No offense taken - and I'm not really a LD rider these days - I do a lot
more 50's than 25's (2050 endurance miles, 310 LD miles). I do feel like we
should treat everyone fairly, and that by doing so, we'll help grow the
sport.

People trashing horses is a whole different problem. If we want to do
something about that, we might want to consider something similar to the
Australian system - kind of like your drivers license - too many pulls, and
you're on probation.




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