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[RC] What the ASPCA thinks of endurance... - Kristi Schaaf

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Animal
Watch (the newsletter of the ASPCA), but there's an
article on endurance in the Fall 2003 issue that you
might be interested in. Being the subject of an
article in a magazine focused on animal welfare can be
scary. But sometimes (as in this case) it is in a
positive light. The article is called "Endurance Trail
Riding" (which I think is kind of a strange title),
and it includes info on both AERC and NATRC. The
article focuses mostly on the 'to finish is to win'
philosophy of AERC, and maybe is a tad naive in
completely avoiding any of the controversial topics -
racing, deaths, etc - that we debate on ridecamp from
time to time. Or, maybe we're just our own worst
critics (and that's a good thing, right)?  
  
The first paragraph: "If horses had a say about
teaming up with human beings in their sporting events,
most of them would probably respond, 'No thank you.
I'll just watch.' All too often horses used in the
sports world wind up terrified, injured or dead."    

Then the article describes why AERC & NATRC are an
exception to that first paragraph, explains the rules
created to protect the horse, and includes quotes from
Dr. Fleming and other familiar names. My favorite from
Dr. Fleming:
"They're athletes! This is a partnership between horse
and rider - we don't have any jockeys out there, just
pals and partners. We'd allow a rider with a broken
foot, a sore back and a nasty cold to compete - but we
would never let a horse in a similiar condition hit
the trail."

It was a really nice, warm article that described the
"I'm doing this for the love of a good horse on a good
trail" type of rider in AERC (the type of distance
rider I hope to always be). 

Kristi iluvdez at yahoo dot com

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