My instinctive reaction is that
Patrick should not have been "punished", nor should the person who filed the
protest have filed it against Patrick. The man who rode the horse near to
death should have had someone take him under a benevolent wing and taught him
some of the finer points of endurance riding. OK, so Patrick lost his
temper, but who wouldn't? I think punishing Patrick is a mistake and
wrong. I would say that the rider should be required to ride with a
mentor for several rides until he shows that he has learned the finer points of
taking care of his horse in an endurance ride.
Perhaps, after this experience, the
rider may feel this is not his sport and then part of the problem will be
solved. If he wishes to try again, he should ride with a mentor, just as a
junior rides with a sponsor and for similar reasons.
Debbie, my friend and I were riding limited distance at that
ride. We were almost at the finish when we rode by a vet truck and a few
people on the side of the trail doing something with a horse. We were
confused at first and didn't know if we were supposed to stop for some reason
or what was going on, so we hesitated for a second until it was clear that we
were to go on. Well after completing the ride, I took my beer and chair
down to the finish to watch the other riders come in. I couldn't help
but notice a big "bulldog" quarter horse hooked up to IVs. There was a
cowboy looking rider standing nearby with jeans, spurs, and a big heavy
western saddle on the ground. I asked the person next to me what was up
with that, and she said that when this guy's horse stopped and couldn't go on,
he took a stick and was beating it. Then I "heard" that he originally
refused vet treatment. I also understand that this horse was a
roping horse and that this was his first endurance ride. I remember
hearing about a fight around the time of the awards dinner but I didn't
witness any of that. I think the rider of that horse deserved to be
pounded and I don't feel a bit sorry for him. I can't help feel Patrick
should get a prize. He just did what we all felt like doing.
My
friend and I were deeply disturbed by what we saw. Being fairly new to
endurance, we questioned whether we were cut out for this sport. We
talked about how seeing this ruined our beautiful ride. We wondered what
could we do about it. We both went home and wrote to board
members. So there you have it. Janet
