Re: [RC] Horse Fatalities, Part Two - Howard Bramhall
I must say I'm so impressed with John's letter I'm going to go back in my
corner and shut up about all this for awhile. I also know I might have
made Heidi mad at me, and even though I may be used to that sort of thing, I do
believe she's misconstrued my feelings about the vets at rides. I love the
vets and I'm so grateful they are there at our rides. I believe
relieving them of the doing the investigative work that should be done when
a horse dies at a ride (there are quite a few different scenarios that
might cause the death of a horse that would only come to light via statements
from other riders. And, don't forget the rider's statement, the one riding
the horse that lives no longer) is what needs to be done here. AERC makes
the call, via the Horse Welfare Committee, relieving the Vets from any possible
law suit (this is America, Howard, any lawsuit against anybody is possible
anytime for any reason).
Anyway, thank-you John. That is quite a fantastic group of folks on
that Committee and I can't thank you enough for it's establishment. In my
earlier posts I did give most of the credit for the establishment of the HW
Committee to Jim Holland, when, as the key Board member who made it happen on
the other end, I neglected to mention your efforts. For that, I do
apologize.
I'll try and be more patient (not, normally, a family trait) with seeing
the Committee listed, in print, in Endurance News.
6. We will be submitting an expanded article describing the
membership of the HW Committee and what it will do to EN for
publication. We will also prepare the first in series of articles with a
case study of a horse fatality with a focus on what can we do better rather
than trying to pillory someone. Our case studies will deal with broader
horse management issues and not just medical causes. We will also act as
a clearinghouse for policy recommendations for the AERC Board. Among
many other things, we will act a as means of contacting and intervening with
problem riders before the protest stage or the death or serious injury of a
horse. Although I have prepared a pretty complete outline of the
Committee's purposes and functions, I expect it to continue to evolve.
The Committee is an ad hoc committee simply because that's the way I proposed
it to the Board. The Board has been sensitive about creating one
committee after another whose purposes tend to get fuzzy after awhile. I
wanted to be sure the Board approved the HW Committee by giving it ad hoc
status to make sure it works out. If anyone had complaints about the ad
hoc status or progress of the HW Committee, blame me and me alone. My
wife and I have been struggling through a severe family health problem which
is our top priority and I spent way too much time and money putting on my
Cincuenta Anos Endurance Ride/50th Birthday Party (for 350 people!) two weeks
ago. Still, I know the other members of the HW Committee are raring to
go and the Committee will make important contributions soon.
7.
In the meantime, there are things each one of you can do NOW to help improve
the welfare of our horses. You can:
A.
Teach beginning riders about how to get their horses through an endurance
ride. I've done this the hour before ride meetings in each of the last
two weeks. I also did it a month or so ago in a separate clinic with a
breed group and got some brand new endurance riders out of it. All of
these were well attended, had lively discussions and were very gratifying to
me. Remember that somebody coming to a ride for the first time will seen
all the glory lavished on the first to finish and won't understand what it
takes to ride that fast responsibly. It's crucial to inoculate beginners
in the culture of riding responsibly right from the
start.
B. Learn more by your riding and
volunteering at rides you don't ride. If you only do LD, you will learn
a lot more by trying 50's. If you only do 50's, you will learn a lot
more doing 100's and multi-days. There is nothing like going day after
day on one horse to really understand what is happening with it.
(Howard, I will have Skjoldur waiting for you at Bryce in Utah on Labor Day.)
Volunteer as a vet secretary at a ride to appreciate the vet's perspective and
learn all the intangible little things they see. Assist with ride
management; only after I managed my own ride did I see all the crazy things
riders will do to themselves and their horses.
C. If you see something wrong, have the guts to file a protest.
Give the P&G Committee specific current and factual information now if you
see abuse. Don't just whine with hearsay generalities on ridecamp years
later. Bob Morris put his money where his mouth is with a couple of
protests on underage horses and I respect him for it. I believe the AERC
office and other riders are much more vigilant on this issue due to Bob's
efforts.
8. It's time to chill out with the AERC conspiracy
talk. I know it's fun and attention getting to beat your chest over the
internet about what the AERC thinks as though it is some sort of monolithic
institution with a single conscious mind behind every act or omission.
In reality, the AERC consists of 6,000 people who send in their dues and go to
rides, a hard working office staff which makes no policy, several
unknown volunteers who work hard in various committees, and a 26 person Board
of Directors that only meets twice a year (although it looks like we will now
at least have periodic conference calls). Although I confess to
sometimes being too rude and impatient at Board meetings, anyone who has been
to one knows the Board has a nearly impossible time making any meaningful
decision. The idea someone could actually wring order out of this chaos
to mount a conspiracy is utterly ridiculous. It is also unfair to those
of us who think hard work for a cause includes more than machine gun posting
on ridecamp. I think these ridecamp discussions keep the heat on and
advance the cause, but I also think some of the individual posters will carry
more weight if they tone down the rhetoric.
9. I am miffed at Howard
and Jim anyway. After all this talk at Chattanooga about roasting a pig
on the farm, I never heard from either of you again to discuss horse
fatalities, my fiftieth birthday party ride or anything else. I invited
the whole AERC to my party (incredible Cajun food and monster dance band with
ride entry fees of zero for veterans like Bob Morris) and who bothered to come
or even wish me happy fiftieth on this list outside of the PSW and W
regions? We still had a great time, so I'll get over it.
