A Very Slippery Slope!
All of the news about Mclain Ward’s disqualification from the World Cup for Jumping as well as the new rules being put in place for Stewards (presumably for all disciplines though directed toward the sport of Dressage) have me very concerned for the future of our sport. Don’t get me wrong - I am 100% for protecting the health and well-being of our beloved horses, but just as with the case surrounding the limited use of NSAIDS, it seems that our international governing body is more concerned with reacting to animal rights activist groups then showing the world that we truly do know and do what is best for our horses 99.9% of the time.
It is curious to me that, while our sports are generally proving to show that the standard of accomplishments is growing higher and higher in competitions around the world, it is the very same athletes at the top of the leader-boards who seem to be “under fire” regarding the methods by which they are winning. How can it be that the scores at the top of the Dressage sport keep going up and up from the best international judges for what can only be described as the greatest group of equine athletes the world has, to date, ever seen, but the FEI at the is simultaneously directing stewards to subjectively determine if these same horses are being abused in the warm-up arena?
Every scientific test on Sapphire proved that the mare was absolutely not administered drugs to make her what a steward deemed “hyper-sensitive”. I know more than a few horses that years ago suffered an injury to a limb and because they were treated in the specific area for so long, they remained “hyper-sensitive’ to even the thought of being touched there for the rest of their lives. So is it with our amazing animals and their memory as well as their inability to alter the thought about that memory. I honestly think that someone made a VERY BIG MISTAKE here.
With regard to the new rules about a “fixed carriage”, aggressive behavior, and abuse, I am equally concerned that we are running the risk of making some very big mistakes because of a climate of fear of the above mentioned amimal welfare activists. I have always felt and continue to feel confident that we equestrians, other than a very few, truly love and protect our horses at all times. Do these new rules mean that there will no longer be allowed the use of draw-reins in the warm-up arenas for the jumpers, for clearly they use leverage beyond what Dressage riders have at their disposal to “fix” the horses’ head-carriage in a deep position.
Do you see where I’m going here? Remember, Dressage riders are not even allowed to go to and around the main arena before they go down the centre-line holding a whip anymore, for fear we will look like we are abusive to our horses; however, the other sports not only may carry a whip, but they indeed may even use it on their horses to a certain degreee while competing. And nobody seems to care that two year old horses in racing are repeatedly whipped in the final stretch by jockeys wanting to win the race.
I guess what I am really saying is that we all need to get on the same page where it comes to rules about what does or does not constitute abuse of the horse, regardless of the sport we are in. Otherwise, we seem both irrational and hypocritical at the same time which just isn’t good for anyone.
Cheers!
RD
