There's a wonderful article by Denny Emerson in Chronicle of the Horse that everyone who cares about eventing needs to read. He raises a lot of great questions about the future of our sport and challenges anyone who cares enough to make themselves heard.
Honestly, some days I can't even get my own bosses to return my call so I'm open to ideas of how to make my voice heard. How do we go about getting the FEI to make eventing once again, "a sport for tough, sound, brave, galloping Thoroughbred-type horses, full of stamina, endurance, and generosity of spirit," as Denny so wonderfully puts it. Or should we?
Time marches on and all things change I suppose, so maybe it is time to stop being married to the military traditions that started it all so long ago most people don't even know of the connection. Frankly, I'll be lucky to go any further than Novice level, so it's not like I'll personally ever feel the pride of taking my horse out and successfully competing at the long form version with roads and tracks - it that chance will even exist a few years from now.
What I do know is it will be a sad day for everyone who rides in the sport, no matter what level, when cross-country is no longer the meat of the sport but just another side dish...
To read the full article, click here.
And seriously, post a comment with any ideas of how to speak out. I'm all ears...
EVENTING WITH A TWIST
For a slightly twisted and often alcohol influenced view of Equestrian Eventing
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