I think this post from Matt Brown does an excellent job of summing up:
Here’s what’s keeping me up tonight.
The fact that Denny (and so many others), at this moment, feel the need to bring up what may, possibly, have a thickly veiled and deeply hidden valid question in terms of whether or not this sport asks too much of the horses - and turn it in to a very painful and undeserved personal attack on Boyd, is just completely cruel and ultimately makes any potential discussion-worthy point that may be in there utterly lost. As someone with three advanced level horses at different stages of layup or rest, who’s programs I have spent many restless nights fretting over, who see the vets for check ups and check ins on such a regular basis that my veterinarian probably has a lien on all of my assets, who’s entire bodies have been imaged and mapped in one way or another probably 10 times over at this point, who’s well being and safety I consider to be the most sacred and honored responsibility in my life - I do often ask myself if this sport at the upper levels is too hard on them, and I try to do everything right for them, and I still am ashamed to come up short despite my best efforts.
But yesterday Boyd and his team lost their incredibly special, scrappy horse simply because terrible things can happen in this life, no matter how hard you try to stay safe or mitigate risk, and to suggest otherwise about this particular situation is either dangerously uninformed or a willfully ignorant stance that strictly serves a cowardly agenda of using this heartbreaking accident as a lightening rod to wield atop a bitter soapbox.
Yes, riders are going to rally around Boyd at this moment, and we are going to refuse to give Denny’s argument any hint of legitimacy because he’s chosen the wrong accident to exploit.
Do we have too many accidents in this sport? Yes. Do riders care? I think that if you look at the amount of riders donating their time, money, and voices to the many usea safety and health studies and initiatives, you could not argue otherwise. Is it a perfect response that has solved every problem? Definitely not.
Does this sport push the horses too hard? If you look at the sport from the inside and see what is often done and accepted as normal in order to keep many, one may argue most, upper level horses going, many could say that it does absolutely push them too hard. Has this been the case throughout the evolution of the sport? I think if you talk to any honest and informed person who has ever been deeply involved in the sport, they would be lying or in possession of the most incredible luck to say otherwise. Is this unique to only Eventing? We may have more accidents than arena based sports like hunters, jumpers or dressage, but if you look at the amount of lame and routinely drugged horses in especially the hunter/jumper world, I don’t think you could possibly argue that that they don’t have horse welfare issues to address in their disciplines as well.
We can have this discussion, we should have this discussion, but it should be based in actual research based facts, and it should not be now. Not now, not because it’s inappropriate to have the discussion when there’s been an accident, on the contrary, I think respectful and well considered deliberation and debate at moments of crisis can often be the catalyst for change, but this is the wrong accident to seize upon.
Any good horseman will play the moments and even the months before a major injury or accident over and over again in their heads looking for answers and usually ways to blame themselves. What did I miss? Is my footing not good enough? Did I train too hard? Was that a funny step they took last Friday? I can guarantee you boyd is doing all of those things right now, and will be doing so for a long time. And in this case, that breaks my heart for him because there is probably nothing he could have done to have kept that horse from taking that horrible step yesterday.
Right now, as a community, we should be sending him nothing but support in what I’m sure will be an incredibly dark time, and I am just completely aghast at what is being lobbed his way instead.
It’s fine to bring educated, informed and unbiased discussion about the demands of the sport out in to the open, but let’s not level completely unfounded and clearly long-held personal vendettas at someone in order to start that discussion.
While social media is a great way to share information, bits of humor, and (so many) cat videos, it’s also unfortunately a way to insulate ourselves in a world that perpetuates our own worldview without challenge. It’s a way to bring thought provoking debate to a far larger group of people than we ever could have before smartphones and social networks and blogs. It’s a way to say things that you would never ever say to someone’s face, and as is very clear to me tonight, it’s a way to be incredibly cruel to one another.
When we decide to continue the discussion about this sport, social media will obviously be involved, and I think can even help, as long as it’s kept respectful and challenging views are considered and not stifled or deleted. And there are also more constructive ways to have this conversation: come to the annual meeting. I do it and cannot afford it, but I find a way anyways. Sit in on meetings, see what the committees are talking about, they may already be bringing up your various concerns and may welcome your voice. Join a committee. Actually do something to be a part of the solution. The world isn’t perfect yet, and life still does terrible and wonderful things to people when they do and don’t deserve them. But we won’t ever make things better if all we do is attack people and complain.
