[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: documentary
- From: "Rachel Anderson" <gsdk9rat@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "Kate Syssoloff" <rockannand@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 11:58:11 -0400
you wrote:
"Whips and spurs and pain killers...... great sport.....
Barbaro deserved a chance to live, just like my animals do when sick or injured.
This sport is only as cruel as the individual people involved, like any other
animal related endeavor, or for that matter, anything involving people.. We all
know horror stories for anything to do with animals, be it because of money,
sport, blue ribbons, prestige, ego etc. How many broken "happy tails" are
there? Surgically improved this and that? Wonder what pee tests would find if
dog shows implemented them. How many dysplastic dogs are shown & gaited for
years?
I know good people in the racing world who love their horses. Are there abuses?
Of course. Can we control every person in every aspect of every animal sport?
Yeah, right. Can we try to police ourselves? We have to, or the AR people will
eliminate all animal activities.
The majority of sport/show animals are cared about, and no animal works hard or
for very long (eg. our own show dogs) without there being a desire to do the
work. Race horses are no exceptions.
Race horses, because jockeys are perched on top and cannot use their legs as
aids, are trained to respond to "whip (not whipping) cues", to go fast yes, but
also to move to the right or left, and to switch leads. Crops are made of
leather with a wide tip to disperse impact. Are there jerks? we know there are,
and there are fines & suspensions levied against those jockeys. All races are
video'd so all angles are covered and any jockey who commits an excessive use
of the crop is fined and commonly stood down for at least two race days.
The race stable I worked for taught valuable lessons that have transferred to
many areas of my life:
#1. When something works for you & earns you money e.g the horse, dog, you are
responsible for their well being.
#2. Their well being is your number one priority as their "boss".
#3. If they are not happy and healthy, they cannot produce.
#4. It is your duty to give them the time off they need.
#5. If they are happy and healthy, they will always try to do their best.
#6. Loyalty works both ways. If they cannot do the work, or have no heart for
the work, you are responsible to place them somewhere that they fit.
I guess I'm fortunate to have had good, ethical mentors.
PS Approximately 90,000 horses were slaughtered in the US last year out of a
population of app. 9.2 million horses. (www.horse.com).
By the slaughter houses' own records (Dallas Crown and Beltex in Texas) only
10% of horses killed are old, sick, injured, or otherwise "unusable" a large
percentage are registered. (TB's, Quarter Horse and Paints dominate at this
time, but Arabians, Saddlebreds, Morgans, etc have had their day)
National Council of Pet Population and Study, including in their study only
shelters that took in more than 100 animals, showed in 1997 there were over
1,150,000 DOGS ( http://www.petpopulation.org/statsurvey.html ) (no cats just
dogs) euthanized (this was based on very low response from the shelter
comminity, so 1997 was the last year this was done) there are app. 73 million
dogs in US. Most of the dogs euthanized were healthy, a significant percent
were purebreds.
Looks like "both sides of the track" can't throw stones at their glass houses.
Rachel Anderson
http://aaronswoodsarabians.homestead.com
http://www.k9-workshop.com
http://segensreich.homestead.com
"Lord, keep Your arm around my shoulder
and Your hand over my mouth"
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