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| Freedom Hall |
I love the American Saddlebreds. I love the breed, and the people do care about their horses and treat them well. I think they get a bad rap at times because they get lumped in with the Big Lick TN walkers.
And then I go to a show. Like this week was the Louisville World's Championship show. It is a USEF recognized competition with a buttload of prize money and millions and millions of dollars of horses on the grounds.
It is so disheartening to see this:
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| I don't even have to zoom in |
Every. Show. I go to I see at least one horse with blood in the mouth. This particular class there was 3. The FEI has strict and specific blood rules but Saddlebreds are not under FEI. The USEF rulebook does not mentioned anything about blood at all in the saddlebred chapter of the rulebook. And general rules are sort of vague regarding this.
I had thought that the blood in the mouth rule was a blanket USEF rule, but it is not.
We all know that this could be a simple case of the horse accidentally biting his tongue. It happens. But I think this industry should at least have an official check on the horse before allowing it to continue? It's a bad image when people walk into your show arena and one of your horses is bleeding like this.
Unfortunately, as someone who has worked in the trenches, I am also aware that it might not be an accident.
How the heck am I supposed to explain this to non-ASB friends who ask why is that horse bleeding? Is anyone going to do anything? And my answer is no, people just look away.
I guess my point is: Do better.
I'm actually surprised that there isn't a general rule regarding blood (on any part of the body) within USEF's guidelines. It genuinely feels like an oversight.
ReplyDeleteLots of opinions about supposed horseman who ignore bleeding horses, but processing all of the relentlessly bad news in general today has worn me out.
ReplyDeleteI will however say - that one of my favorite horses of all time was a gigantic (17.3) saddlebred gelding at my dressage trainer's barn. Bud would routinely show off while I cleaned stalls by reaching over the stall wall to drink out of his neighbor's automatic waterer. You could tell he got a kick out of it. He was a kind leader of his herd, and despite his conformation - a willing and lovely dressage partner. Totally <3 saddelbreds!
I always found the saddlebred sports interesting and always happy when you give us a peek behind the curtain or explain things, but yeah, this is disappointing. :(
ReplyDeleteI love saddlebreds and I know so many of the people who show them love them too. Seeing this is so hard and sad. I'm sure the same could be said about any discipline. We all need to do better.
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