Re: [RC] [AERC-Members] Announcement from Horse Welfare Committee - Barbara McCrary
Probably the only way we are going to
control speed and the possibility of over-riding is to do away with the rewards
for speed. No national or world champions, no top ten. Everyone who
finishes is recognized as a "winner". Until we adopt this as policy, there
are always going to be people who run to place first or top ten or
whatever. Somehow, I don't think this is going to happen, because the
element of superior performance (first place) is always going to be
desirable. If we don't give awards, there probably won't be as many
members in AERC, because the element of awards is very important to any
sport. I once suggested the elimination of awards at a membership meeting
at convention, and my idea received a standing ovation. But, as we can all
see, it never happened. And I'm not sure it should happen.
We can't legislate common sense. It just won't
work. How to save our horses? I don't have a good answer. And
even if a rider is using the utmost common sense and care of his/her horse,
there can still be deaths. I've seen it happen, I know it
happens. I don't have any answers, does anyone else???? And
tattling on riders we see out on the trail, abusing or over-riding horses is
somehow repugnant to me. Didn't we learn as children that tattling is a
no-no? I don't like to see abuse or over-riding, but tattling is even less
appealing.
Subject: Re: [RC] [AERC-Members]
Announcement from Horse Welfare Committee
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
