Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Would a move to block new horse events from olympics help horses?

I think some of the extreme competitive drive which is resulting in turning international endurance into 100 mile track races stems from a desire to see a region 7 flag raised over an olympic podium.  And I have a real problem with the thought of endurance as an olympic event on general principles.  The horse is the star athlete in endurance just as in steeple racing or the Kentucky Derby.   I am not knocking AERC-I members who are able to combine the roles of professional race trainer and jockey and do both with good horsemanship and often while working to pay the bills.  I also think that there are trainers and jockeys in the Tb world who are good horsemen.  There are plenty of 100% amateurs  who ride in similar styles to pro-racing just for fun.  We call them fox hunters for steeple chasing, but we wisely don't include steeple chasing with hurdles in the olympics.

Region 7 is putting jockey club sweepstakes level money into endurance races and the fact is that endurance is closer to track racing than eg dressage in that a stable can condition/train a horse and then that horse can do well with any pro level rider/jockey.  This doesn't fit the FEI model of making the rider the responsible agent when it comes to sanctioning for drug violations or other cases of horse mal-treatment since the horses are not ridden by the owners and the stables easily recruit new jockeys when FEI catches a drug violation and suspends the rider for a year or 2, meanwhile the owners and stables still claim the glory when their horse(s) win. 

 Fact is I am not even 100% comfortable with dressage, jumping, and eventing as olympic events, but they do require extra rider skills and communication with the horse to succeed, nor is speed the sole factor in determining the winners, plus they are historical.  But I think horse lovers should take a stand that horse racing, regardless of whether it is a quarter mile AQHA sprint or a 100 mile course is not and never will be an olympic sport where the winner represents human sport achievement.  It is probably not possible to put the genie back in the bottle with the endurance distance professional racing; FEI needs to either adopt jockey club style rules where the owner and trainer as well as jockey are sanctioned for violations or possibly they need to shove endurance out of FEI as an event that that is not compatible with the FEI structure and mission.   

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