On The Fence with Carol
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A Lot To Think About!
by Carol Harris
As you know, I went to the Convention and came home with my mind full of thoughts that have been fairly difficult for me to sort out. Most everyone seemed extremely friendly and complimentary regarding several years of my “On The Fence” articles. This has been hard for me to understand because in spite of my severe criticism of the current state of horse welfare, conflicts of interest, lack of penalties, and loose enforcement of rules, it seems to me absolutely no effective changes have come to fruition. Was I glad I went to the Convention? Yes, I was very glad. It gave me an excellent opportunity to visit with members and share their views. Do I want to go next year? I believe so. I could be more certain of this decision at a later date when we have been given the opportunity to determine if the 2015 Convention actually made a difference for our horses and membership.
My foremost concerns remain unresolved because few seem to want to actually provide a path toward much needed relief for our horses. Could it be many actually believe the public is going to continue to tolerate what they observe at one show after another? Everyone should think seriously about this because problems prevalent today involve many disciplines. We certainly do not want to eliminate these disciplines just because, in my opinion, some of these horses are not being trained by humane methods and judged by the functional purposes our rule book describes. But what can we do to encourage those who are not following the rules and practicing humane training methods to develop more humane ways to reach their ideals of “Form to Function”? If we are ever going to be able to achieve unity within our disciplines, we must somehow make sure that our “splinter groups” are on board with us.
In my opinion, we have permitted a tolerance to exist between affiliates and ourselves, but unless we work together to achieve the same goals, I predict one more glitch in our system will raise another ugly problem. It seems unnatural that our leadership should want us to encourage popularity and growth with broken rules, so since some exhibitors and trainers refuse to train any differently and some of these same people are also judges that refuse to follow the rules, why don’t we just face reality and let our affiliates help decide what a good answer to this huge “conflict of interest” problem would be, so we could remain on board with each other.
At the convention many of us were favorably impressed with our new Executive Vice President, Craig Huffhines. Equally impressive were the positive attitudes of staff members Pete Kyle and Alex Ross. I’m extremely hopeful both our new and old members of the Executive Committee will feel comfortable in approaching AQHA issues with unified energy, drive, and commitment. AQHA membership and Coalition members will be eagerly awaiting the first indications of positive changes actually being put into effect.
Where to start? Craig Huffhines will have to make this decision, but he has a tough job ahead of him because there are so many components that have brought us to our present state.
Addressing “conflicts of interest” with our judges and stewards and their relationship to our trainers [many are one and the same] should go hand in hand with our Coalition’s new penalties and enforcement policies. Our discussions and agreements on issues such as these must become a reality, with effective changes written in stone and applicable to all participants in AQHA events.
We believe in the policy that states our horse must be treated with dignity and respect at all times . However, it makes me wonder if we all know the true meaning of dignity and respect. Do we think that the gross sores caused by spurs and all the tying up, down and around are examples of dignity and respect? Those who remain students of unacceptable methods continue to foster the problems we see in the ring. They must change their thinking and believe none of this should ever be acceptable.
Excessive class offerings and dwindling participation in events as well as the ineffective outreach to youth are important issues to seriously consider in reviving participation and ensuring a healthy future for AQHA.
Yes, the 2015 Convention has offered us a big step in the right direction, but now we must move at more than a snail’s pace if we wish to save any more members from leaving our Association. It is our job to move forward in steady strides and help Craig Huffhines, Pete Kyle, Alex Ross and the Executive Committee create realistic implementation that will produce visible and effective changes!
