Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Don, I am simply stunned at your conclusions.  IMNSHO you are totally  
off base, and it freaks me out that you would draw such conclusions  
about a guy with a record like Hal Hall's and his horses' longevity  
in the sport and post them to an international audience.  FWIW Don is  
in PS and Hal in W, and I suspect Don has never seen Hal or his horses.

You are not a racer--and it feels like you are not willing to  
consider that "stuff happens" whether racing or not, and that you  
feel if a horse has to retire it is automatically something the rider  
could have avoided had he simply not competed the horse.

I am not a racer (either, at this point) but find Hal to be one of  
the "good guys" in this sport that would pay attention to his horses'  
longterm needs over his desire to compete. I've seen how he cares for  
his horses (including at Tevis).

Lynne


On Jan 25, 2006, at 2:23 AM, Don Huston wrote:

>         This thread was originally started by a guy who was amazed  
> at finding in the record book that "Mathew Mackay-Smith riding WC  
> Freiheit (aka Fred) won both the Tevis and the Old Dominion 100  
> miler in 1995...both in the same year." Then he wanted to know more  
> and asked "Does anyone know if this feat has been accomplished by  
> any other rider/horse team...in the same year?" And in his search  
> of the records he noticed and remarked that "UNFORTUNATELY, WC  
> Freiheit completed 1 fifty mile race after this feat, (in September  
> of that same year), and then, though campaigned, never completed  
> another. <snip>

> cause he sold it!
>         This next Ridecamper speaks much better than I of  
> "responsibility" and I quote "the opportunities granted to us as we  
> enjoy our horses, are balanced by the responsibilities we must  
> accept in the care and use of those horses. There is no safeguard  
> we can implement that can assure a horse's protection from his ill- 
> guided rider. Education is the key, and hopefully some will trickle  
> down to this individual before harm is done. Ultimately the  
> responsibility of the welfare of the horse rests squarely on the  
> shoulders of the rider. This means that some horses out there will  
> always be at risk, to the degree that there will always be those  
> few who are unwilling or unable to accept that responsibility. The  
> horse is truly in this thing with us. In a very "me" oriented  
> world, one of the most honorable aspects of our sport is the fact  
> that we are almost forced to set our ego aside as we campaign our  
> horse, if he is to have a healthy career, and certainly if he is to  
> have a long one."
>         In honor of the indestructible champ WC Freiheit "Fred" who  
> was never pulled for 6 years and during that time completed 15  
> 50mile rides averaging 9th place and 7 100mile rides averaging 5th  
> place including winning both the OldDominion100 and Tevis100 in  
> 1995. A very distinguished record and the real winner not Mack.
>
> Don Huston


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