I hate to be cynical, seems I am getting more that way the older I get
and the more horses we have die. Here is an ad-hoc committee that is
now establishing itself as "rumor control" - requesting complaints on
"horse abuse" without substantiating evidence or documentation.
This is nothing more than a he/she sez vs. he/she sez. What it the
world is this going to accomplish and how is that going to mean fewer
horses die in the future?
One of the general purposes of the Committee for the Welfare
of the Horse is to act as a sounding board for informal complaints by
AERC members about horse abuse and to contact overzealous riders to
warn and educate them of potential problems. This helps serve the
committee’s overall mission of fostering peer pressure and a culture of
protection of horses through non-coercive means.
This is to announce that members of the Horse Welfare Committee are now
ready to field informal complaints or requests for information about
riders who are perceived as pushing their horses too hard. AERC
members may contact the committee for this purpose through the
following email addresses and phone numbers:
Initial contact by email is probably best since it can so easily be
forwarded to other
committee members. A communication to any commitee member will be
distributed to the rest of the committee. The committee will then
select a particular member to provide a response. The committee member
assigned to a complaint will review it and, if appropriate, contact and
counsel the rider about the impression he or she is creating and the
potential consequences if horse abuse does occur.
This informal procedure is intended to allow intervention with problem
riders before death or serious injury to a horse occurs and before the
problem progresses to a protest. This informal procedure is not
intended to address complaints about competition issues not related to
the welfare of the horse. Nor is it intended as some sort of
witch-hunt or “turn in your neighbor” program.
Obviously, the best way any of us can deal with a problem rider is to
directly express our concerns to that rider ourselves. Sometimes we
become worried about what another rider is doing with his or her horses
even though we do not see a rule violation. The committee simply hopes
to provide a way to reach out to problem riders who don't seem to
respond to the advice of their fellow riders. Where horse abuse or any
other behavior amounts to a violation of the AERC rules, a formal
protest should still be directed to the Protest and Grievance Committee.
John Parke
Chaiman, Committee for the Welfare of the Horse
