[QUOTE=OTTB_;8906171]
Fuse is lit now.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, the fuse doesn’t lead to the right device i.e those with the ability, authority and desire to make changes. Just like the fights over change on the HJ side, nothing changes.
Whether it’s too much influence by the good old boys/gals backed by big money or an unwillingness to change the culture of wink wink acceptance that cheating and fraud is a fact if life or shrug off death and serious injury as part of the sport, it needs to stop. So does dismissing vocal complaints by those who actively participate but not at that elite level as ignorant, stupid or simply too far below them to dignify with a response.
Whether in Eventing, H/J, the gaited world, Western side or breed shows. We, as an industry, cling to century+ old practices and attitudes that should have outlived their place in the modern horse industries long ago as knowledge and better ways to accomplish our goals surfaced.
Yet we are stuck doing the same old same old with the same old same old excuses and arguments against moving on. I don’t have any solutions but am getting tired of defending my sport against the same objections from newbies or outsiders decade after decade and seeing very little change in its perception or actual conduct.
Yet we wonder why the number of new participants is shrinking in many branches of horse sport, even among those to whom money is not a barrier.
