Along those same lines, I was at the County fair today. Saw
Pam Tillis (she was fantastic; "Queen of Da Nile" was my favorite, along
with that "Maybe it was Memphis" song she does). Anyway, next to the
petting zoo at the fair was this pony ride. Five ponies strapped to
a horizontal bar all connected to this Merry Go Round contraption. All
the ponies had a kid on their backs. I saw no water or feed anywhere in
sight. I watched them go round and round in the hot sun. Some
of the men running this ride looked like they just got out of county lock up
with a reservation for a return visit, and there they were picking up
little girls putting them on top of these ponies.
Perception is everything, and thankfully most folks don't have the demons
crawling around in their thoughts like I do sometimes (too much Stephen
King I think). Anyway, I had to walk away from it all because my
thoughts and visions were making me ill (a constant problem in Howard's
world). I knew that if I had acted on my thoughts and tried to free
those ponies I would have been arrested. Besides, where would they all
go? And, who knows, I was only there ten minutes or so, maybe, their
owners are the best keepers in the world and I only perceived, incorrectly,
what I took to be as cruelty to animals.
Our sport is the greatest equine activity in the world. I know this
and most endurance riders know this also. NO one cares for their horses
in a competitive sport like we do. There is no equine sport that has
such stringent veterinarian controls to proceed during the event as do
we. The problem is, only we know this.
ONlookers and guests, unfamiliar with the sport, most likely see things
quite differently. I'll never forget running into a hunter while I was
competing in a Georgia endurance ride out on the trail right after I had just
finished sponging off my horse. This guy, with a rifle strapped around
his back, thought that my horse was wet everywhere from sweat and that I
was running him to death.
We had one of those Georgia-Floridian conversations. It didn't go
well cause I was in a bad mood (hot ride and I had been out all day) and
didn't feel like talking to someone who was clueless to our sport and had a
gun to reinforce his lack of knowledge. Looking back on that event now I
realize I should have taken the time, dismounted, and explained exactly
why my horse looked so wet to him. Next time, if there is a next time, I
will do just that. Even I have come to realize that I need to modify my
normal behavior so that the hunter/biker/back packer leaves, after meeting me
and my horse, with a good feeling instead of a bad one. For me, Mr.
Pleasant, this does take quite a bit of readjusting, but for survival of the
sport, I am only too willing to oblige.
Like it or not, we are all ambassadors of endurance. Whether you
are a backyard endurance rider or an endurance rider who aspires to become an
International star like my gal, Val, it behooves all of us to speak out
positively for our sport every chance we get. Because, without that
effort, we may all lose what we love so dearly. Perception is everything
and we must be the voice for our horse, our sport and ourselves. If
you have a burning passion for this sport, and I know just about all of you do
because it really is quite addicting, this will not be a difficult
task.
Btw, if you haven't done so already, send in that DAL ballot with
Truman's name checked off. It's still not too late if you get it off
today. I swear ya'll will break my heart if he's not one of the chosen 8
this time around.
cya,
Howard (who needs little encouragement to speak about endurance, but
thanks for writing what you did, John & Sue G.)
----- Original Message -----
From:
Merryben@xxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 8:05
PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] IAHA ride aka
speed?
In a message dated 11/9/2002 5:23:39 PM
Central Standard Time, tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
we, as
>endurance
riders, need to realize that we don't look so good to the
>rest of
the equestrian poplulation,
Went to a poker ride recently with about 100 horse
I would guess at least. The only trailers I saw with water buckets and
food were endurance
people......interesting.....
