The United States Equestrian Federation has launched an initiative to make the welfare of the horse a priority in the 21st century.
The federation held a USEF town hall meeting on June 3, 2013, to discuss some of the main themes of the initiative and receive feedback from horsemen. The meeting physically was held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. The audience in the room was small, but the three-hour discussion was also streamed live online, and officials spoke with the same weight and importance as if they were talking to a packed room at the annual meeting. Viewers of the live feed online were allowed to submit questions by email that were then read to the officials at various times. The full video also was posted online for viewing later, allowing pretty much every horseman in the world to be a part of this revolution in horse care.
USEF CEO John Long called the meeting “the tip of the iceberg” in where the federation plans to go with this.
Several factors appear to be driving the initiative.
One is social media and the reality that bad behavior by USEF members is no longer happening away from public scrutiny. People are all too ready to videotape anything unpleasant and post it online.
As USEF President Chrystine Tauber put it: “It is imperative that we have this dialogue ourselves before others begin it for us.”
Another factor seems to be a heavy conscience by many in the horse world.
Former USEF President David O’Connor noted that eventing has had to evaluate its practices and change its “last man standing” aspect, in which the courses were so grueling, few finished.
He said the sport has completely changed for the better, even from five years ago.
Two veterinarians participated in the meeting: Kent Allen, former Olympic vet and former USEF board member, and Stephen Schumacher, USEF chief administrator of drugs and medications. Both discussed the recent trend of horses at shows being injected with various substances right before they enter the ring.
Allen said overmedicating is not in the best interest of the horse, nor does it further the aims of the federation.
While the initiative targets specific practices, it also casts a wider net to stop “inappropriate practices” in general.
O’Connor said horsemen should ask themselves: “Could I do this on television in the middle of Central Park and nobody minds it?”
Bill Moroney, USEF vice president of affiliates, said horsemen will need to ask: “What is our sport? What should it look like that’s defendable, that’s realistic and that’s reasonable and that cares for our horse No. 1?”
Are you seeing the theme?
At every step, the officials made clear the horse would come first in the decisions they make with new rules.
Tauber, the president, wrapped up the evening by invoking the words of Joe Fargis from the USEF annual meeting in January 2013: “We are together tonight because of our bond with horses. Let’s protect and guard these wonderful creatures to the best of our ability.”
USEF is not a particularly big group. It has 88,000 members in a nation with more than 8 million horses. However, the American Quarter Horse Association has joined it in this initiative. And likely the horse racing community is watching.
Far from this being the tip of an iceberg, it seems more like a boulder rolling downhill.
Horse abuse will no longer be tolerated in this country. Whether that abuse is something major, such as drugging a hunter, soring a Tennessee Walking Horse or tripping a rodeo horse, or something that has been tolerated in the past, such as running a horse around a round pen for two hours until it’s ready to drop, the word from the top is officials are watching, rules will be in place to prevent such abuse and punishment will be handed out to violators.
To those who think they can do whatever they want with a horse with no consequences, I would say: “Find a new sport. Your days in this one are over.”