The elephant in the room
So this has been a hard week for eventers. And it's been a hard year.
I still have a lot I'd like to say about Rolex but have been too busy to post, and I worry that the events of the last few days will kill all enthusiasm and momentum before I get around to it.
So, before I feel right about talking about Teddy and encounters with superstars, it's important to address the elephant in the room: eventing is dangerous.
But, eventing is also what we make it. We're in control of it. For as disturbing as the recent accidents have been, I also am alarmed at how quick folks are to shoot their own wounded. This really hit home as I worked a show today, a show hopelessly low on volunteers but not attendees. I think Denny summed it up well:
There are two ways to look at this sport, the way it is, and the way we wish it would be. If right now it`s a sport in trouble, and it`s hard not to think that, with so many deaths and crippling injuries, then we can either wail about the fact, or we can try to fix it.
How can we fix it?
Get involved. Join the USEA, join the USEF, and speak up and don`t let other people make all the decisions that affect you, or your children, or your horses.
I rode in my first event in 1962, and the sport of 2007 is nothing like the sport of 45 years ago. All sports evolve, and they do so because of people.
You can let other people run things, and then you have to take what you get, or you can decide to be a player.
Being a player takes a degree of courage, because you have to sometimes take stances on issues. You can`t "hide".
But if you are smart, and analytical, and logical, and if you are compassionate about horses, which you are, then other people will have to take you seriously.
I have a friend who said to me last year, "Eventing has lost its compass."
I agree with him, sort of, except for one thing. There is no such thing as "eventing" Eventing is only what people make it, no more, no less.
So my question is this: Are you going to sit by and let "them" decide what eventing shall be, or are you going to get involved in the fray?
It`s really that simple. And that hard.
I still have a lot I'd like to say about Rolex but have been too busy to post, and I worry that the events of the last few days will kill all enthusiasm and momentum before I get around to it.
So, before I feel right about talking about Teddy and encounters with superstars, it's important to address the elephant in the room: eventing is dangerous.
But, eventing is also what we make it. We're in control of it. For as disturbing as the recent accidents have been, I also am alarmed at how quick folks are to shoot their own wounded. This really hit home as I worked a show today, a show hopelessly low on volunteers but not attendees. I think Denny summed it up well:
There are two ways to look at this sport, the way it is, and the way we wish it would be. If right now it`s a sport in trouble, and it`s hard not to think that, with so many deaths and crippling injuries, then we can either wail about the fact, or we can try to fix it.
How can we fix it?
Get involved. Join the USEA, join the USEF, and speak up and don`t let other people make all the decisions that affect you, or your children, or your horses.
I rode in my first event in 1962, and the sport of 2007 is nothing like the sport of 45 years ago. All sports evolve, and they do so because of people.
You can let other people run things, and then you have to take what you get, or you can decide to be a player.
Being a player takes a degree of courage, because you have to sometimes take stances on issues. You can`t "hide".
But if you are smart, and analytical, and logical, and if you are compassionate about horses, which you are, then other people will have to take you seriously.
I have a friend who said to me last year, "Eventing has lost its compass."
I agree with him, sort of, except for one thing. There is no such thing as "eventing" Eventing is only what people make it, no more, no less.
So my question is this: Are you going to sit by and let "them" decide what eventing shall be, or are you going to get involved in the fray?
It`s really that simple. And that hard.