Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I had an interesting experience this spring working with a man from Saudi Arabia who wanted to do some riding. I took him on his second ever endurance ride. He's nuts about the sport and watched the entire WEG via satellite.

 

He comes to the same conclusion that many of us do... He is afraid that the UAE is turning the sport into big business, ala flat track racing, and that it will hurt endurance in the long run. He said the good thing about the sheik's programs is that people like him who can't afford to keep a horse in the Middle East can ride for a sheik. But he said to do that, he would have to compromise his own ethics about horses. He took excellent care of my horse at a ride, better care than I do! for him, it was not about the race, it was about the horse and the ride. I was very pleased with that as I wasn't too sure about loaning out my horse that way.

 

I thought it was interesting to hear the view from someone who comes from that part of the world.

 

chris

Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Linda Hedgpeth wrote:
>
> > *But Truman..... *
> > **
> >
> > ** 
> > *That kind of money can buy a lot of things...decisions, vets, 
> > officials, outcomes, etc... *
>
> and maybe an entire organization.
>
> > *This time there was a convenient little slip-up in procedure. *
>
> Think it could have been on purpose - just to give them an out?
>
> > *What will it be next time? We all know there will be a next time 
> > because that whole attitude is about "them" winning. Everything else 
> > be damned. More sophisticated drugs that won't test, or just 
> > "buying" the test results. They have already shown the world what 
> > they think of human children. I can't imagine there is any more 
> > regard for a horse or the concept of "sportmanship".*
>
> Yep but they are not alone it this. The FEI seems to be walking hand
>  and
> hand down the primrose path with them. Now I wonder since we were
> suppose to "stay engaged" - "*Our very presence over there was supposed
> to be such a positive influence in helping them learn "ethics", "morals"
> and "fairness..." *where is the outcry from AERC I. Where is the moral
> indignation against a potentially corrupt organization that has sold
> out? The silence is deafening.
>
> Plato probably said it best when he said, "Good people do not need laws
> to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around
> the laws."
>
> A sad day for international endurance, but a sadder day for the AERC
> since we insist on sticking our organizational heads in the sand.
>
> Truman
>
> > **
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> ?The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things
> that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it
> some of the grace of tragedy.? Steven Weinberg ? Nobel Laureate,
>  Physics
>
>
>
>
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