Re: Please Quit Beating Your Horse

[jtaylor@pyramid.net]

Teddy Lancaster wrote:
> 
> That is EXACTLY WHY I quit going to horse shows...seems that if you cannot "make
> it" in the show ring there is always "endurance"....
> 
> If you have a decent ride manager..that person CAN and SHOULD disqualify those
> involved and ask them to GO HOME....
> My thoughts exactly!!!! Julie
> Teddy
> 
> DVeritas@aol.com wrote:
> 
> >     The last time I saw your horse, you had tied it up to your horse trailer,
> > having just done twenty-five of the fifty miles you'd started.
> >     It was screaming for its "running mate" whose rider had it at a water tank
> > letting it slake its thirst.
> >     Your horse was tied short, standing in the sun with no food or water.
> > Screaming.  Your daughter (about twelve years old) yelled at it to stop
> > yelling and when it would not, she ran over to it and with a crop commenced to
> > beating it in the face yelling at it to stop screaming.  The beautiful
> > chestnut, stopped screaming (apparently understanding this form of discipline)
> > and commenced to lowering its head and pawing the sand, resulting in a full-
> > body sweat.  I think it was supposed to be resting and replenishing, getting
> > ready to carry its rider the balance of the ride, but I could be wrong.
> >     I came into the vet check as you were leaving on your "refreshed" horse.
> > My pit crew, who was at her second endurance ride, came up to me and with
> > tears in her eyes said she just witnessed the most awful thing.  Relating the
> > story to me, she told me she didn't know what to do for the horse, but to tell
> > the child to quit beating it. (Which she did and the child responded by
> > glaring at her, but quit beating the poor horse.)
> >     I found this whole incident hard to believe.
> >     Until I saw who was riding the horse and who she was riding with.
> >     It was you.  I remember you.
> >     At a vet check a month previous, I saw you riding that horse.  You and two
> > other adults had what appeared to be three junior riders accompanying you.
> >     My first encounter with you was as your group flew by us, yelling
> > something about how you had started late and had to "catch up" (with who or
> > what, I didn't know).
> >     Coming to the first water after about twenty-two miles, my junior rider
> > and I (her first endurance ride as well as her horse's first endurance ride)
> > had just smiled knowingly as her horse drank like the good fellow he is, when
> > from upstream you came flying at us (a junior rider in tow) LOPING IN THE
> > WATER AT US and yelling, "That's my whip lying there,".  Sure enough, lying
> > there was a whip, in the sand.
> >     After calming our horses down, I picked up the whip and as I handed it to
> > your daughter, I remember how surprised I was that you didn't say "thank you",
> > "sorry, we disrupted your horses while they were drinking", or anything.  You
> > wheeled your horses upstream and loped away.
> >     My junior rider said that you must've been having a real bad day.  I said,
> > "Probably a bad life is more like it."
> >     I then saw you at the vet check, noting the tardiness with which you left
> > the check, you yelled, "Come on, everybody get on your horses, we got to go!"
> > It was clear to me, you were the "expert" leading the group.
> >     But, you couldn't get on your horse.
> >     So standing there, watching my junior rider watch your behavior, it
> > occurred to me that I should walk over and take your crop from you which you
> > were using to beat, and I mean BEAT, your horse as it danced around and
> > around, afraid to let you on its back.  Unfortunately, your daughter was slow
> > in mounting her horse and your horse hopped on the back of her leg with a
> > front foot.  Your daughter screamed...you proffered, "Oh sweetie, I'm so
> > sorry!", to which your daughter replied, "No you're not, you don't care
> > anything about me!"
> >     It was a mess.
> >     Somehow, you got your butt on your horse and you all loped off, up the
> > trail.
> >     I stood there, ashamed I hadn't acted.
> >     The only thing I can think of was that once engaged in stopping you, I
> > would find myself so emotionally charged that I couldn't guarantee I would'nt
> > beat you with your own crop.
> >     We saw you later, saw you at the finish where to a ride vet you were
> > berating the behaviour of your horse and how "There must be something wrong
> > with its mind!"
> >      I defended the sport of endurance to my junior rider and her mother, but
> > I couldn't defend my inaction, given the opportunity to help your horse.
> >     A month later, I find out your daughter had learned the better part of
> > disciplining horses from you as she beat that same horse TIED TO THE TRAILER!
> >     I'm begging you, quit beating your horse, and when I see you again, if my
> > personal appeal to you is of no benefit to your beautiful chestnut horse, and
> > I see you beat it again, I will stop you.  And do all I can to see you
> > disciplined.
> >     I regret and am ashamed I didn't the first time. Mea culpa.
> >     It won't happen again.
> >     Maybe, endurance is not this horse's cup of tea.  Maybe, you're not this
> > horse's cup of tea.
> >      (Oh, you have my E-Mail address, I would be more than happy to deal with
> > you one on one in regards to this matter if you prefer....I wanted to share
> > this with Ridecampers so maybe they might learn from my own stupidity.)
> >      Just Stop It Already...I Know You Must Not Feel Good About How
> > Ineffectual A Horseman You Are.  You are the exception to the rule that I find
> > myself denying exists in endurance racing/riding...but, unfortunately bad
> > rider behaviour screams for attention while good behaviour just quietly gets
> > down the trail.
> >      Frank Solano....  Ridecampers, how would you have handled these
> > incidents?