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Re: [AERC-Members] [RC] Punishment at this stage? - sharp pennyDawn, I agree that these riders, high profile or not, should all be accountable for their actions or lack there of which AERC is doing' now with suspensions, fines and so forth. My point was addressing stronger *corrections* needs to be our LAST concern right now. Getting AERC unified and stronger needs to be a top priority on the list..even before making rule changes to benefit horse welfare. How can you publicly put someone in the *spotlight* you have described under the guise of AERC without being accused of libel and slander? As an individual you are free to shun those you perceive as being guilty but when you drag AERC into this it's a whole 'nother ball game. At this point alot of this finger pointing and gossiping of the supposed wrongs of certain individuals is just here-say and conjuncture (that seems to be being lead by people with *axes to grind* right or wrongly) which would lead to very public legal battles. Do you honestly think we as an organization can afford to be closely scrutinized by John Q Public at this point in time and avoid ramifications that could possibly eliminate endurance riding as we know it now? I'm not worried about AERC's ability to fight such public legal battles...I'm concerned about what will happen when non horse people want to try to save endurance horses with measures that could change the way we run our rides and most likely in ways we would'nt't want. Respectfully, Penny --- RDCARRIE@xxxxxxx wrote: Hi Penny, I thought later (after sending that message) that the word "punishment", might be taken wrong. I'm not talking about fining riders, kicking them out of AERC, or something like that. I was thinking more along the lines of basically putting chronic problem riders under a spotlight in front of their peers (other riders)...something that would let other riders know, and that problem rider would *know* they know, that the problem rider is not putting their horse first. If such a rider knew that others were watching them, they might ride a little more carefully. Why should we, as riders and an organization, look the other way just because someone is a high profile rider (which could be defined several ways - mileage, wins, longevity, etc.)? Doesn't that put our house of cards on even shakier ground? Shouldn't we expect those riders be especially knowledgeable and less likely to have repeated metabolic problems? And shouldn't they recognize that they are the ones the very rank newbies are most likely to look to for "how it's done", at least initially, and thus they have a responsibility to set a good example? Just some thoughts. I do agree with you about uniformity...I've only ridden in CT region except one ride in another region, but just from reading RC and talking to some friends who live and ride in other regions, it sounds like there are a lot of differences between regions. But we can set uniform ways of doing things, and all abide by them, and some people will *still* continue to crash horses. It just seems to me that until the sacred halo is removed from "high profile" riders everywhere and they are held responsible for their actions, they'll continue on. *That* is part of cleaning up our own house! And don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the person whose horse has a couple of minor metabolic problems, or the person whose horse ends up on a jug for the first time. I'm talking about those who repeatedly have major problems. As for the riders taking legal action, well, if the consequences are outlined in the AERC rules, they can decide to join AERC or not...if they don't like the rules, don't join. JMO... Dawn __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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