 |
[RC] Fwd: [treelesssaddles] Statement from Sabine Ullmann, owner Barefoot re Mongolian race - John TeeterBegin forwarded message: From: "Jeanne Slominski" <endurancemorgan1@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: July 1, 2009 6:38:20 PM MDT To: "John Teeter" <johnt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Fw: [treelesssaddles] Statement from Sabine Ullmann, owner Barefoot re Mongolian race This one's also too big. Quote: "To whom it may concern: I am Sabine Ullmann, horse physiotherapist and owner and inventor of Barefoot Saddles in Germany. My South African Barefoot distributor is going to equip the riders of the Mongol Derby with Barefoot saddles. Yesterday a statement of the Long Rider's Guild was forwarded to me. In this statement the race is spoken of as very horse-unfriendly. It was overwhelming how many people did react quickly when horse’s welfare is on their minds - thank you and please go on like that! After this statement rushed through the rider’s world, I was involved in a discussion about what is horsefriendly and what is not. Please be sure that doing harm to horses is not at all according to my philosophy - "for riders who care". Everyday in our world it happens that horses are mistreated. Everyone sharing my philosophy knows this unfortunately well. I am not only thinking of the killing of Mustangs, the deportation of older horses that their owners think of not "useable" any more, but watching some training methods in Dressage and Jumping sports is absolutely painful to me, too. A huge percentage of horses is still living a life behind prison walls, away from their comrades - maybe physically well treated - but kept completely in ill psychological condition. Not only sport horses do suffer but a lot of pleasure horses, too, by the ignorance of their owners. One might come to the conclusion that this beautiful animal would spend a better life if men had never come to the idea of "using" horses for their purposes. None of us is able to stop the world from being cruel to animals immediately. But we all can do our part to get the world a little bit more friendly each day. All of us can use our brains - and plant a horsefriendly idea in the heads of as many people as possible. For me especially this means to make riders think of their equipment. By offering a horsefriendly saddle system and information about how a horse is "functioning", I am trying to do my very best to open minds for future generations. I have been informed by the organisation of the race of the following matters: 1. The horses will be checked by vets thoroughly before and during the race. 2. The horses have been trained for the race. 3. No whips and spurs and bits will be used. 4. Each horse will only have to work for 40 kilometres / 25 miles. 5. All riders taking part are trained horse(wo)men and well-known. I am aware, that the horses, compared to western standards, seem to be very small and seem not used to carry weight (riders are restricted to 85 kg + 10 kg luggage) and seem not really trained well to manage the 40 km / 25 mph. But definitely the race will take part with or without horsefriendly equipment so why shouldn’t we help these Mongolian horses to have an easier 40 km run by letting the SA distributor equip them with a horsefriendly saddle? Letting them get hurt by another saddle would not be in our all philosophy, this I am sure of. Last but not least this race not only is being held to raise valuable funds for the rural people of Mongolia but also to create awareness of the plight of the nomadic Mongolian herdsmen. They live in extreme poverty and with the Mongol Derby the aim is to raise in excess of $ 500.000 for Mercy Corp. Thank you for understanding my thoughts and for your help to make the world a little more worth living today." Best regards Sabine Ullmann Pferdephysiotherapeutin Firma Barefoot for riders who care www.barefoot-saddle.de info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (0049) 6272 920 500
Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|