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In following the recent RC treads on
hogs,quality of life,hunting,pasture shelters,and PMU barns what puzzles me is
how ridecampers classify themselves when it comes their horse operations.How do
the thousands of horse owners in the USA and Canada with say one to five
horses view themselves? It seems to me that those of us that think of
ourselves as farmers/ranchers, as keepers of livestock(horses) have a
different take on dealing with hunters,bikers,loggers,access to trails, and
regulations dealing with such than those who view their horses as very large
pets.
There are very few of us who actually try to
make a living with our livestock. I have 75 dairy cows and 3 horses.The horses
are for pleasure use and I do not expect to make a profit from them. However,
because I do make my living from the land and cows I am sensitive to,and
wary of,groups not at all familiar with agriculture trying to dictate how I
do things. Does this mean I am totally against rules and regulations? No, I am
not,especially if said rules where written locally with input from
representatives of business,agriculture, and homeowners. Where we seem to get
into trouble is when groups like PETA, Greenpeace,Wilderness Society etc.
decide that our way is not acceptable to them. We in agriculture do not have
much clout vote wise anymore. There are less than 75,000 dairy farms left in
this country. It would help if the thousands of horse owners think of themselves
more as farmers/ranchers when it comes to voting or educating the public on
the issues recently debated on RC. Working together we can be
proactive in changes to rules affecting hunting, hogs, horses, trail access,
whatever so that we do not ever have to see what an endurance ride under
PETA/Wilderness Society rules looks like!!
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