I don't know anything about this horse, he's just the first result for "wgc twh" on youtube. I'm not saying he was sored. In fact, I'm assuming he's totally clean and all that action is only from the shoes. Just watching him move gives me the heebie jeebies.
All that action comes from the enormous, heavy shoes on his feet. Padded horses can't be turned out in anything bigger than a stall-sized paddock, and they can't be ridden on trails that are the slightest bit muddy or trappy. They live in their stalls, only getting out to be ridden. It's a tragic, shitty life and they break down fast.
By the time I got Dixie, I knew without a doubt that I didn't want to show. I'd done a few local shows, on my gelding Champ and on other people's (plantation shod) horses, and while it was a fun way to spend an evening, it brought out the worst in people. The judging is political and it's a clusterfuck of drama. So I started looking through all the things you could do to have fun with a TWH.
Trails are fun, but they're not really a goal. Dressage is inherently worthwhile, but you have to have a trainer, and showing dressage is just as political and bitchy (although arguably less cruel). Trail trials sounded cool, but there wasn't a big base of support for it in Memphis. Jumping stuff was right out; you need a trainer and money to burn. Dixie's not at all suited to compete in western games - she's just not catty or fast.
But endurance - hmm. Ride the horse you've got? Ride all day on trails? Vet checks to make sure your horse was absolutely sound and metabolically stable? T-shirt prizes for everyone, "to finish is to win," awards for Best Conditioned Horse? A bunch of really, really knowledgeable and fearless women? Sign me up!
That's what caught my eye about endurance. Sound horses, going out to have fun all day. That's what I wanted to do. It took me a couple years of wishing before I ever started conditioning (which might be why I'm so absurdly passionate about the sport - I dreamed about this for so long, yall.)
But that's AERC endurance. We're just the bush league amateurs. There's also FEI endurance, which is the international level of competition, and at this point FEI endurance doesn't look much like AERC endurance. FEI endurance's motto is more like "to win is to win and nobody likes a loser." It's flat-track 50-100 mile Arab racing.
I've been hesitant to write this because I know -- and like! -- quite a few endurance racers. They're good people. They train hard and race to win, but they put their horses first.
But any time you get people competing for high stakes, bad things happen. Bad things have been happening particularly often in international FEI racing. (Link to Horse and Hound search results for "fei endurance", which has pretty good coverage of the drugging and injuries occurring overseas right now.)
If you read my blog because you think maybe one day you'd like to try endurance, just as soon as you get all the bits of your life in order, I want you to know that AERC is not FEI. I've seen a tiny handful of possibly-sketchy behaviors in ridecamps. I've seen a few people override their horses, and a lot of vets pulling those horses. Most of us have 1-3 horses that we've spent countless hours conditioning, and we don't want to hurt them - we want to keep riding them more than we want that one win or top-ten.
But I'm also writing this for my AERC readers. There's a motion up for debate at the January BOD meeting. In December of last year, AERC sent a letter to FEI Endurance, outlining AERC’s proposed changes to FEI rules. Now the BOD is voting on a motion to de-sanction FEI rides* if FEI doesn’t accept and work toward our rules.
AERC wants, among other things, a change of leadership in FEI Endurance; disclosure of fatalities and injuries; increased penalties for individuals who break FEI rules; more drug testing; and more disciplinary activity during rides. If the motion passes, AERC will no longer co-sanction FEI rides until they make those changes. The full motion is currently located here (pdf link).
I support this, and if you’re an AERC member, I think you should consider supporting it too. Email your BOD reps if you agree. I’m open to debate on this, but I really think distancing ourselves from the rampant corruption and abuse happening in international-level endurance rides is for the best.
This shit is putting us in a bad light, y’all. People who haven’t been to a ride (or even watched the videos of happy, healthy, full-of-piss-and-vinegar horses finishing AERC hundred-mile rides) already think asking a horse to travel that far is inhumane. Racing so fast and so hard that your horses kill themselves, doping your horses up to mask their pain - this is all bullshit, and everybody knows it. FEI’s corruption is making us all look bad, and distancing ourselves from them is a good thing. I'm sorry if this wrecks your plans to go international with the world's best horse, but if it'll help preserve our sport, I'm all for it.
Here's a happier video. This is what it's supposed to look like! (thanks for putting this together, LCT!)
Here's a happier video. This is what it's supposed to look like! (thanks for putting this together, LCT!)
*AERC sanctions rides. Currently, they also co-sanction some rides as AERC/FEI rides, allowing riders to pay the normal fees and ride for AERC points/miles, or pay the extra FEI fees and ride for both AERC points/miles and FEI placings. There are only a handful of co-sanctioned AERC/FEI rides, which makes our international riders Very Unhappy, but for better or worse they’re a minority. The proposed change will shut down the international riders’ options to qualify for FEI rides, but it won't affect AERC-only rides.
