[RC] Answering Lisa's "things to think about' post - Laura Hayes
Lisa Salas wrote: >>>Does the HWC has to wait
for an invitation or a protest to pick up the phone and make a call? The day
this girl posted this story, someone from the HWC could have picked up the phone
to verify this story and then followed through with the appropriate measures.
Last time I checked, it was not illegal to call someone to discuss concerns over
animal or child welfare. Members of the HWC read ridecamp and members forum,
too. There were quite a few posts about the behavior of the two people and their
treatment to the horses. Did anybody have a conversation with them ever? Does
the HWC have to wait for someone else to call and make a
report?<<<<<<
Hello. I have to say, that I am not pleased with what
many of you are hashing over and the personal attacks you have made. I am
not sympathizing with the subjects AT ALL, but I feel many people (not
necessarily you, Lisa, but many of the posters to RC and the MF) have used drama
and emotion to belittle and degrade the situation even further. I have
lowered my opion of the maturity and credibility of some of the people who have
posted in these last few days - their unprofessional and belittling posts
have offended my sensibilities, and I would rather not post at all in that
atmosphere, but I need to answer Lisa's questions in public since they are
legitimate and were asked in public.
In a nutshell, it calls for the initial
investigation and report of the fatality to come from the Veterinary Committee,
that is not a public document, but the WotH committee uses that and personal
interviews to prepare a public report that is published.
When this story was published on the member's
forum, Lisa says the Welfare committee should have called and verified and then
taken "appropriate measures" What are appropriate measures after the horse
has died? Four others have died this year at or after AERC rides,
should I call and publicly horse whip those riders??????
You say there were posts of the riders abusing
their horses.....the right thing to do would be for the eye witnesses to file a
protest and grievance. Did that happen? Knowing something about the
riders involved, how much do you think they would have changed had they been
contacted in the days following this story? Obviously they have now 'hung
themselves' and will not be in a position to abuse horses in the future. I
would hope that should they want to return to competition, that someone who
witnessed their abuse would have filed a protest so that the P&G committee
could apply sanctions (assuming, of course, that the witnessed were found to be
credible----and this is the way the process should, and does work).
Lisa Salas wrote:>>>Laura
has said in the past that if we report concerns to the HWC, it would be looked
into. After all, isn't that what it was set up for? To educate riders who may
not be making the best decisions for the horses and hopefully prevent such
tragedies? I'm thinking theses girls could not have care LESS about education.
Obviously, they thought they knew it all. <<<<
I do not speak in private, let alone in public about
the calls I get and how I deal with them (and I can tell you I DO deal with
them, and ONLY me and one other WotH member who most of you would not know) But
I CAN tell you that I never got a complaint about the parties involved in this
issue. I am not about to read something on RC and assume that it is
correct or just. If you have a complaint, you need to talk to me in
person. My number is 716.785.5458. We are seeing a difference in the
riders we counsel----you can only take my word for that, because I won't discuss
it further, but it doesn't work by public degrading and name
calling, and it does not work by being morally superior than those you are
trying to help. Being fair and kind will get you much further than name
calling and accusations. That said, if I ever see anyone abusing a horse,
I might very well rip them from said horse before I file my P&G!! I
can not do so, though, on the say so of people who were not even in the same
state when the abuse occured.
This question of Lisa's brings up something I talked
about in the first paragraph, knowing what you all think you do about these
riders, how much of what I would have to say to them would have changed their
behavior?????
