Robby`s Post, 136

[denny]

Perhaps someone who knows how would be kind enough to copy Robby Johnson`s post no. 136 from the "Proposed Rule Changes" thread.

This post is one of the most eloquent analyses I`ve seen of what so many eventers feel has been going on with this sport, and deserves a wide reading by lots of people.

So many of the ongoing threads, gripes, ideas, that concern so many eventers are logically addressed here. Our sport has NOT evolved in a well thought out, orderly way, but has morphed from one sport, with one set of values, into another,with a different set of values, and is still in the process of doing so.

What too many feel is that a relatively few "insiders" are driving those changes, and whether or not that`s true, many feel left out, even actually betrayed, and would like a chance to "take back" their own sport.

Anyway, read what Robby wrote, see what you think.

[ThreeDays]

This one?


I posted late last night after my full-time job (which routinely drains the life out of me) and then taught 3 pilates classes until 9 p.m. I was attempting to be concise as I didn't have the energy to fully capture my feelings in a lengthy post. This morning I was making my bed - as I always do - and thought, "I probably should've added more to that."

Firstly, I in no way intended my post to be exclusively directed at Bobby. He is a very good friend with whom I have shared both good and bad times, and I know him to be a brilliant, pragmatic individual. As GotSpots said so eloquently, he has given a tremendous amount of himself to this sport, offering creative and fair solutions and lobbying for change as it relates to a very big picture that not many want (or even can) see. I don't think he's an "adapt or die" type. In fact, I'd describe him as conservative - possibly even guarded. His counsel is wise and I value that.

Nor was it directed at the PHC specifically. Those are just two minor occurrences which prompted me to share my feelings. I belong to several professional associations in my line of work. I value them greatly, and as such support the right of any group of like-minded individuals to unite and do what they like to do. Usually much good comes out of these united efforts.

What I should've said last night in my original post was that in the years I've participated in this sport - and really, it's not that many (less than 10, from beginning competition to the last time I evented) - there have been a multitude of suggested and implemented changes resulting from rallying forces whose motivation isn't always democratic.

Having unplugged from the sport and lacking any real skin in the game (my idea of fun with horses these days is going for a nice long hack ... what a blessing!) it's easier to make somewhat objective observations. I guess my point is that when you have something that is authentic and pure, that has evolved organically, and it suddenly comes under the influence of actions and enhancements that aren't unbiased, the integrity of the structure is often severed, and the damage left in the wake irreparable.

I'm thinking a house whose load-bearing walls are removed, Britney Spears as Mousketeer vs. Britney On The Stretcher ... and to eventing in particular I'm thinking the safety scare, letting incompetent riders run out their nine lives in real time leaving their own bones and dead horses in their wake, yet staying comfortably in pretense because it's just not polite to tell someone "Hey, you know what, you suck ... take up knitting;" manufactured 12 year-olds running Training on $30K horses who don't even know how to pick their horses feet out properly, selling out to a "format" so that "Our horses can be stars because they can be seen at more competitions and we can get more sponsors ... like NASCAR!" Just because someone thought it doesn't mean it is so. Ideas must be developed. Stories must be edited. Inertia alone does not a PlayStation II make.

Couldn't some of that energy and passion to illicit such radical change be directed in programs and initiatives that have some proper research and evaluation methodology factored into them? I still marvel at the fact that the format change was implemented without any documented research as to how the old format was bad - or how the new change would be better. Isn't that the point of Jon's blog post? That it's been spontaneous evolution? Is it really smart to expect to reach a destination if you have no map to lead you there? Do you wake up one day and say, "Well, shit, I'm so damned sick of getting rained on I think I am going to need to build me a house. I've never done this but I see houses down the street so I think I'll just start slapping stuff together and see what happens when eventually I'm finished?" No, you don't. What's the basic principle of home-building? I believe it's called a plan. An engineered plan. Designed to stand the tests of climactic effects and any other destructive threats one faces in modern-day America.

I personally feel that the current economic crisis is going to leave its mark for a long, long time. And in a macabre way, I really hope it does. Gross consumerism and instant gratification as we've known it (and evolved alongside it) is a thing of the past. Accommodating people who want to ride and compete horses - either in a pro or ammy capacity - will be even lower on the priority list of the outside world than it is now. It should be. People are starving in our own country, our own towns, our own streets. Wives are beaten by husbands in our own damned families. Teenagers are testing positive for HIV. Do I really give 3 rips if someone sits on a horse after it's finished competing to decide if they want it? No, I don't. Even if it's a little tired, it's taken a helluva lot better care of than most inner-city school children. In fact, it will likely fetch a price 3x greater than most of them could be educated at a local community college. That doesn't mean I don't love horses, or riding, or horse people. I do. It's just that a filter has been removed from my lens and I see things differently now.

Basically, I say stop cannibalizing the sport. It's weak and wounded and needs nurturing and support if it's going to emerge with an identity and purpose and a future. Invest in planning and plotting and expect it to take time. Fixing the problem in 1-2 meetings or even within the span of a year is unrealistic and only contributes to a cycle of waste. Add value. That's what it's about.

[denny]

Yes, thanks.

[percheron]

Well worded. Thank you Denny and Robby.

[Kairoshorses]

Thanks Denny and Three Days. And Robby. I woulda missed this post if you hadn't directed us to it.

It makes me wonder if our sport hasn't been "bailed out" so to speak. I think I "buy into" the efficient market idea, and I don't think bail outs are helping. Things naturally ebb and flow. Perhaps we've injected too much capital into our sport, we've tried too hard to "professoinalize" it, and we've forgotten what we loved about it initially.

I spent three years at BN w/o a trainer, and when I finally got one and expressed an interest in eventually moving to N and T, she said "you have to earn it". I like that attitude, and I really like that I'm getting better (slowly, because I am an adult with career, a family, etc.). But I will always keep that phrase in mind, and I'm really going to feel good about myself when I do eventually earn the right to run Training.

[RAyers]

I absolutely agree with Robby's sentiments.

I think that part of the issue with the PHC is that it is perceived to be directly involved with governance of the sport as it is under the auspices of the governing bodies. I too belong to several professional societies as well but none are as intimately tied to the federal government as PHC is to the USEA. Thus, to the outsider, the PHC does appear to be an active lobbying group specifically intended to influence governance of the sport. Yes, I understand the USEF makes the rules but USEA is much more intimate with the USEF than I or any single person can be.

My issues are not with Bobby Costello directly, but as many point out his presentation of the ideas was not good. They were not well thought out (e.g. there are already rules allowing more fences in warm-up, EV 108) and the justification failed to show that such changes would benefit anybody but professionals.

And yes, this sport, hell all sports, have lost sight of the fact they are GAMES. It is not real life. If eventing were to disappear tomorrow there may be 20,000 or so sad people in the USA but that is MINISCULE compared to the 330 million people living here, and the millions affected by natural disasters, war, and disease.

Reed

[Hony]

"I personally feel that the current economic crisis is going to leave its mark for a long, long time. And in a macabre way, I really hope it does. Gross consumerism and instant gratification as we've known it (and evolved alongside it) is a thing of the past. Accommodating people who want to ride and compete horses - either in a pro or ammy capacity - will be even lower on the priority list of the outside world than it is now. It should be. People are starving in our own country, our own towns, our own streets. Wives are beaten by husbands in our own damned families. Teenagers are testing positive for HIV. Do I really give 3 rips if someone sits on a horse after it's finished competing to decide if they want it? No, I don't. Even if it's a little tired, it's taken a helluva lot better care of than most inner-city school children. In fact, it will likely fetch a price 3x greater than most of them could be educated at a local community college. That doesn't mean I don't love horses, or riding, or horse people. I do. It's just that a filter has been removed from my lens and I see things differently now."

I really like this little bit of perspective.

[ThirdCharm]

If that don't make you think nothing will.

[monstrpony]

Robby is truely gifted with words, and not too shabby with ideas, either, nor is he inclined to pull punches. His perspective is very valuable to eventing at this particular moment in history.

I'm old enough to begin wondering if all older people don't feel what Robby describes at some point in their lives, about what they loved as younger people (not saying Robby is older, he just has vision; I, however, AM older, and depend on those with vision to clear mine). In a perverse way (given that I work for the state of North Carolina), I almost hope he's right, that the economic downturn will provide a much-needed mid-course correction to horse sports in general, and to eventing, to return it closer to its roots and its people--all of them.

[JSwan]

Robby Johnson has been on my "must read" list for many years.

That post is spot on.

Good job, Robby.

Thanks for pointing out his words, Denny.

Kudos to both of you.


I've found myself writing a lot about tradition, culture, rules, and horsemanship - only to be poo pooed by newcomers. Guess it's a sign that I'm an old fart.

What some consider to be old fashioned - focusing on horsemanship, tried and true, mastering the basics - isn't to be lightly tossed aside. And yet every discipline complains of the same thing - riders that lack a good foundation. Pressure to move up before a person is ready or able (or the horse is ready or able). Flashy complex ridiculous courses that are caricatures of cross country riding. Purchasing the made horse, purchasing the outward manifestations of expertise and accomplishment - and thinking that is the same thing as being an expert or accomplished.

Knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

It's appalling.

[clivers]

Thank you Robbie and Denny,
I enjoyed reading that post. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
GL

[JER]

While I very much agree with most of what Robby is saying, I'd like to remind everyone that, in the 21st century, tinkering with and making changes to the sport of eventing has led to some very serious consequences.

Attempts to make the sport more 'spectator-friendly' and 'sponsor-friendly' and giving self-styled 'professionals' grandiose and ill-fated ideas about making 'stars' of their horses, have left us with a disturbing body count, both human and equine.

So maybe eventing is miniscule in the grand scheme of things but ultimately, if something bad happens to someone you care about, a riding accident isn't all that much different than a plane crash or terrorist incident or a deadly disease.

The two rule change proposals, as described by Mr. Costello, showed a lack of even the most basic research into or knowledge of the current rules. If people are going to appoint themselves as leaders in the sport, it's up to the rest of us to demand more from our leadership. This will not do.

I agree with what Reed said about the dangers of having a for-profit business lobby under the auspices of the USEA (I posted about this on the other thread). Not only is it divisive by nature, it's just plain wrong.

[Kementari]

Right on, Robby. :yes:


The two rule change proposals, as described by Mr. Costello, showed a lack of even the most basic research into or knowledge of the current rules. If people are going to appoint themselves as leaders in the sport, it's up to the rest of us to demand more from our leadership. This will not do.

I think, at the end of the day, this may be what bothers me MOST about these proposals: that the very people who so wholeheartedly believe we should be relying on THEM haven't even done the basic research and reading that I would expect of any BN ammie. :no: I don't honestly worry that these proposals might pass - I think they are just ridiculous enough that they wouldn't garner many votes - but I worry about what it says about our future that well-respected people who are seen as leaders are suggesting absurdities instead of studying the fundamental problems we face.

[denny]

What`s most striking and relevant to me about this whole matter is Robby`s observation/comparison to rebuilding a house.

You don`t just start rearranging boards. You have a well thought out plan, evaluating the future consequences of current actions.

Which the FEI seems not to have done, nor the USEF in its attempts to reduce falls, etc.
As it now stands, a rider is more likely to be punished for giving her horse a spur rub than for running him at full tilt into a jump and killing him. Those kinds of issues should have been addressed beforehand, but since they weren`t, they need to be addressed now, and they seem not to be.

Eventing needs a new structure to replace the perfectly good one the FEI tore down.

Where is it going to come from?

These are some of the questions that I believe Robby`s post is asking, if in somewhat of an oblique fashion.

[magnolia73]

Not to be pessimistic, but I wonder if 12 months from now we won't all be sitting disappointed over the cancellation of Rolex, and the basic implosion of the top levels of the equestrian sports. I wonder of the economy won't perhaps solve the problem for us. NASCAR right now is hurting. Layoffs and far fewer spectators, plus loss of sponsors. I look at the names of some competitions- Merril Lynch used to sponsor a big show in Cleveland.... who will step in now that Merril is Bank of America who can't afford that sponsorship either financially or publicity wise.

It's not just corporations, but family fortunes lost and more on the way. How many big owners are going to be hit hard enough to have to abandon the dream of watching their horse run in the Olympics?

Another step down we have the affluent kids. Will their parents still afford a few grand a month in training and show fees? Will they be able to get a loan for the $85,000 prelim packer after this one breaks?

We had a false feel of affluence. The money being in spent in any area was not sustainable and I am thinking that all these 2-3 time a month Florida wintering high dollar horse buying clients are no more sustainable than our housing market or our luxury goods market was.

To me, the saddest consequence are those at the bottom. Those trying to lease out loved horses to keep them. Those doing whatever they can to hang on to their partner and friend. Local trainers who have been good people trying to keep businesses going as customers get laid off. The wave is coming. I'm not so sure that many of us have energy to worry about the conditions for a rarefied few who compete at the top levels.

All I can say- in my industry- real estate- the jerks who were in it for the money, with no clue and honestly, no knowledge are being purged. We all know who they are and smile a little when they go under, knowing there is one less competitor. All the good guys- the smart people, the ones who love the business and practiced prudently with the best intentions- some are being sunk, but we are banding together and supporting each other. I can only imagine that the same will happen with horse sports and in better times, both will re-emerge driven by the people who always "got it" and were in for more than money and ego.

[IFG]

Robby and Denny, Thank You! You are both the voice of sanity. I am on break from the sport as well, and I am wholeheartedly in agreement with the views expressed by Robby. He voiced much of what I have been feeling while reading the many of the latest controversial discussions on this board and pontifications from the USEA leadership.

[NeverTime]

To me, the saddest consequence are those at the bottom. Those trying to lease out loved horses to keep them. Those doing whatever they can to hang on to their partner and friend. Local trainers who have been good people trying to keep businesses going as customers get laid off. The wave is coming. I'm not so sure that many of us have energy to worry about the conditions for a rarefied few who compete at the top levels.

This is what worries me the most, too.

[Speedy]

What is to prevent those of you who feel most disenfranchised from approaching the USEA to pitch the creation of an Amateur Horsemen's Council? It may be a welcome innovation (you don't know until you ask) and you would have the opportunity through the council to obtain real information about proposals in an official capacity, lobby your own issues and collaborate with the PHC on those issues that affect both groups? It would take time and effort to put together and maintain, but may be well worth it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

[IFG]

What is to prevent those of you who feel most disenfranchised from approaching the USEA to pitch the creation of an Amateur Horsemen's Council? It may be a welcome innovation (you don't know until you ask) and you would have the opportunity through the council to obtain real information about proposals in an official capacity, lobby your own issues and collaborate with the PHC on those issues that affect both groups? It would take time and effort to put together and maintain, but may be well worth it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

The problem for me is lack of time. Amateurs often have a day job, a family, and other commitments. Riding is a luxury, and I squeeze it into my last iota of time. There is just no time left to spend on organizational governance. This is the same problem currently facing Pony Club (I am a DC). In general, I am of the put up or shut up variety. I don't like what is happening in the sport, so I will bow out, because I do not have the time to put in to change it.

[JER]

What is to prevent those of you who feel most disenfranchised from approaching the USEA to pitch the creation of an Amateur Horsemen's Council? It may be a welcome innovation (you don't know until you ask) and you would have the opportunity through the council to obtain real information about proposals in an official capacity, lobby your own issues and collaborate with the PHC on those issues that affect both groups? It would take time and effort to put together and maintain, but may be well worth it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Why institutionalize divisiveness? Why not just put an end to these divisions.

The important issues in eventing right now -- keeping venues affordable and available, long-term financial stability, education and safety -- will not be served by pitting 'amateurs' against 'professionals'.

There are no pros or amateurs or adults or children or BNTs or peons out on an XC course. We're all equally riders, with the same passion for the sport and the need to bring our horses and ourselves home safely.

[silver pine]

Speedy,
I suggested an ammie riders council over on the other thread and still think it's a good idea. I think the pro's feel like they are under attack- and don't know why (or so they claim). Perhaps if we had a voice at the policy level we could have a better chance of guiding our own organization. It is after all OUR organization.

Being an ammie rider means a whole different set of concerns that don't get the air time that the big names get. If all they have to worry about is not enough warm up fences and being to busy to show their horses to potential buyers at home then life for the pro is not all bad. The rest of us are trying to get by on $10 per bale hay, $4 a galon gas and maybe 3-4 shows a season if were lucky and have saved up or pennies by returning our soda cans.

Sorry Pros, I know life as a professional is not just riding the high life and you all work very hard at your craft but there are more than you at the dance and we all need to play nice.

S.P.

[Speedy]

Why institutionalize divisiveness? Why not just put an end to these divisions.

The important issues in eventing right now -- keeping venues affordable and available, long-term financial stability, education and safety -- will not be served by pitting 'amateurs' against 'professionals'.

There are no pros or amateurs or adults or children or BNTs or peons out on an XC course. We're all equally riders, with the same passion for the sport and the need to bring our horses and ourselves home safely.

I don't propose to pit one group against the other - I think others have already accomplished that quite effectively! I do propose that you form a group of like-minded individuals to get a seat at the table and collaborate with the USEA, PHC, etc.

Everyone may ride the same courses, but they have sometimes divergent interests in life and business. Embrace it. There isn't any reason why you can't recognize the differences AND work together to identify shared interests and improve the sport on the whole.

[takethestage]

Knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

JSwan, it is appalling. Lately, I've found myself wishing I had been born twenty years sooner, just to experience REAL eventing. The eventing that was about having fun, taking care of your horse, moving up when you wanted to. I really hope I'm not the only one in my generation of eventers, who seem to have lost all sight of what eventing used to be about, in longing for the eventing that is no more.

The Junior and Young Riders who are financially able to buy a made horse and push it throught the USEA and FEI levels will become the sport's future. They are on the fast track to becoming "professionals." They are hardly a representation of horsemanship. Whatever happened to bringing a horse along yourself and moving up when both horse and rider were ready? That eventing is a thing of the past. It is a shame, because the sport formerly thought of as eventing gave ameteur senior and junior riders the opportunity and the hope to become a BNR one day. Part of eventing's allure was that ameteurs could compete alongside pros and BEAT them. Now, we have to work harder if we want to get to the top. Though there is not a doubt in my mind that those who work hard to get to the top will stay at the top longer. After all, why screw up YEARS of success and failure and competition? The ameteurs have a lot more to lose than the professionals. That may be their only horse, and they're going to be very careful about what they face their horse with. The pros seem to think that their horses are disposable, and that if one of their horses can't do it, another one can. "Oh, that horse has to be euthanized now? Give the owner my condolences... Ah, this horse is a looker!" (and of course, I'm being overly dramatic. I sincerely hope our sport does not have a single soul that would do that...)

Denny said it well: "Eventing needs a new structure to replace the perfectly good one the FEI tore down." Unfortunately, I don't think it is possible at this point to rebuild eventing as it had been. Our structure is going to be built around the BNR - both young and old - who will be able to financially support the sport with horse sales and sponsorships. It is strikingly evident in the proposal from the PHC. The ameteur senior and junior riders are the people making the big sacrifices here. With this economy, more ameteurs will be forced to cut back on their competition schedules or cut back on their herd of horses. This, in turn, will be hurting the event organizers, so they will go about catering to the BNR in the warm-up rings, who still are able to go to an event every weekend and still eat three meals a day. Eventing is in the process of becoming a sport for the professionals or the very affluent, not the passionate or caring horsemen and horsewomen that previously defined eventing.

[ellemayo]

I'm not sure that I have the experience or knowledge to be inputting anything into this discussion (I have never competed in an event, and I don't have the years of life experience that many of the eloquent writers on this page have been blessed with). However, eventing has been a goal of mine since I first volunteered at Over the Walls when I was just a kid, and I've been really disheartened to read on this forum about the path eventing seems to be taking.

I've read a lot about the most respected "old school" riders and how they got to where they are now. It seems that most of them were successful because of hard work. From what I can tell, eventing back in those days wasn't a glamorized and commercial thing the way it is today (or the way it seems to be headed). It was a group of highly dedicated horse-people who struggled, and rode whatever they could get their hands on, and made sacrifices to be the best.

The way the economy seems to be going, I think it would serve eventing well to go back to the way things used to be. Those kids whose parents over-mounted them on expensive horses in order to win may not be able to afford them anymore. And I don't think that's the worst thing that could happen.

Maybe hard work and determination will actually count for something again.

A person who desires something with his whole being and is willing to make sacrifices to get it, will almost always succeed. A person who wants to ride in Rolex will find a way to get there, even if it's not handed to him on a silver platter, and even if it takes many years.

Those are the people who I think will be able to save eventing. Because those are real horse-people. People who want to maintain the integrity of the sport and do it not because "they can", but because they know they're not meant to do anything else.

I really hope that that drive has not been bred out of the youth of today, who are a generation of instant gratification (and I speak from experience, because I am the youth of today). I really hope that what people in this thread are predicting doesn't come true. And I really hope that eventing doesn't continue to turn into something that I really don't want to be a part of.

Maybe this economic downturn will help bring back some of the qualities to eventing that I really believed in. Or maybe I'm just too optimistic.

I'm not even sure that it's possible to go back, with the way things have become, not just in this sport, but in our country as a whole. But I hope so.

[Gnep]

Thanks Robby you hit the nail on the head.

Eventing as a sport has changed dramticly over the last years. Lived way bejond its means, Wall Street type.
Through out all those changes and the huge growth and all the money that rushed into the sport it forgot to built a foundation for this new building and it has not incorparated its old foundation.
Since the acumulation of those terrible accidents, a 911 mentality envolved and a rush of emergency rules heaped on the sport. They are ment well, but they are less than well thought through, band aids to stop the blood flow and none adresses the problem directly goes to the core.
The old foundation is eroding away the new foundation is very shaky and built on the very fragil base of expandeble income.
This is not just a US problem, the same is happening in France, Germany and the UK, especialy the UK, it is hit the hardest of all European Nations by the current financial problems

The USEA needs, desperately, to start a dialog and engagement of its old foundation, its still there, even that it is eroding, because the ground floor was built on it, the lofty second floor will get blown away this year and next year.

[JER]

I do propose that you form a group of like-minded individuals to get a seat at the table and collaborate with the USEA, PHC, etc.

Which is what I'm saying no to.

I don't believe the PHC should be allowed to exist under the auspices of the USEA. I have stated this previously. The solution is to abolish this group, not to form other groups to 'collaborate' with it.

If the PHC wants to incorporate on its own, sort of like the Professional Event Riders Association which is now the Event Riders Association, I have no problem with that, so long as that group is separate from the USEA.

[RunForIt]

What I would like is to send this entire thread (thank you, Denny, for showcasing Robby's eloquent "face the facts" piece of reality) to the USEA asking that the PTB respond in turn...

happy to be going over to Pine Top Farm this weekend to watch the remnants of eventing...

[retreadeventer]

I know everyone will HATE me but I think that's a whole lot of ....nothing....he's a nice writer, interesting to read, lovely turn of phrase as they say.
All you are really saying is, where's the plan.
Of course there isn't a plan, this is equestrian sports, you know, the one that took like what seven years for the USET and AHSA to stop fighting over whatever, who remembers that.
The way forward was lost in the 1990's.
I don't think the sport will survive my lifetime, actually. I think we all ought to enter every horse trial we can so that we can experience cross country because I think it will be a thing of the past.

Old Man:
"Sonny, a long time ago when I was a young man, they had what was called cross country....and we JUMPED that old log over there in the bushes, all grown over with vines. Those were the days. Why you would train your horse by cross country schooling, and do gallop sets to prepare him for the three-day event." (Old Man sighs longingly)

Young Man: "No Grandpa - you couldn't have! Why, that's against the law...you can't jump a horse over anything as solid as a tree or a log anymore. Nobody rides cross country anymore!" (Young Man laughs and rides off to the arena with 150 other kids each with their own trainer and warmup jump.)

[cheval80]

Do you have to be a recognized competition to host a long format event? Who says we need to be apart of any organization? Maybe some farms would agree to host long format events, just to bring back the tried and true ways.

[Robby Johnson]

I know everyone will HATE me but I think that's a whole lot of ....nothing....he's a nice writer, interesting to read, lovely turn of phrase as they say.
All you are really saying is, where's the plan.

Yeah, you're right. That's really all I was trying to say.

[LexInVA]

Yeah, you're right. That's really all I was trying to say.

But your TPS report was done with such flair! :lol:

[silver2]

I think the analogy of too much capitol having been injected into the eventing world is really apt. It's a tiny, niche sport that simply cannot support a large number of professionals that must draw all their income from the rest of the members.

Sort of like a website with a lot of VC but no income, eventually the wheels have to come off the bus.

[denny]

Isn`t this a huge part of our problem, that we have 2 very different constituencies, the USEA and the USEF, and each has a vision, but not the same vision?

Not to belabor the "good old days", because there was plenty wrong then, too, but at least there wasn`t the huge split we have today, the split that David O`Connor doesn`t think exists, but that strikes me as becoming more and more pronounced.

If we had just one constituency, and I were in charge, I`d set up a 2 day think-tank, invite riders, organizers, judges, xc designers, etc, and try to build "Robby`s walls."

But we have, if not quite warring entities, at least disagreeing, competing entities. And I don`t think the USEF folks (CMP and buddies) much care what the USEA folks think or want.

Maybe I`m wrong, but show me otherwise.

[retreadeventer]

Well...Denny, you can speak to this -- hasn't eventing sort of from the beginning been under the wing, or in charge of one person throughout it's phases? I think - Alex Mackay-Smith to start.....Neil Ayer......Jack LeGoff.....it seems that when the Jack era ended we no longer had a single person in charge, (and a lot of folks wanted it that way, from what I understand), but those who are a bit more involved might have another take on that. I suppose you could also add Jo Whitehouse to that list, simply on longevity.... I'm not saying this is a bad thing, I just point out that one person in charge -- the sport relies upon their philosophy. Our direction is formed based on their experience and what they bring to the table, their particular concerns. Not that that is a bad thing. Perhaps what we have now is less a vacuum in leadership, than a more modern business model which moves slower than we'd like in forming industry wide changes. Eventing is a bit bigger now than it was then, and I'm not so sure it's so bad in terms of what it was, and what it is now for us lower level riders. I remember riding in the days when the association was struggling to educate course designers and organizers and standardizing courses, and what we have today is light years better than it was in the 80's, at least you can make up a horse now on the west coast and be close to that level if you ship east to ride; back in those days it was impossible to do that, the courses were widely varied within levels.
We can't live in the past as much as we would like to go back to that. I think we have to go forward - and I'm one who is from the past, as much as anyone, having evented since the early 70's. I don't think it was better then. I think it is much better now. Where we go from here, however, is the $64 million question.

By the way....injecting an idea here...anyone see the newest USDF/Dressage show recognition plan? Bringing the smallest dressage shows into the fold by not requiring membership of competitors? It's happening....eventing needs to do this too.....

[Gnep]

The problem is in the leadership structure and in the Organisational Structure.
There is not one leader.
DOC sits between the chairs of USEF,USEA,FEI and the PHC and has to deal with an conflict of interests that comes out of his own family.
Even the best Man of all best Man will get lost in that.
Than there is the USEA that basicly can not do anything only if it gets the Halelulija from the USEF and the USEA has this rather unlucky self interest group the PHC that seams now to run the shop and has pushed the President of the USEA aside.

Who runs the shop ?

[JennieRose]

I didn't start out in eventing, and it took me a long while to find a set of instructors I enjoyed riding with and learning from. But, as a girl who was decidely from the "wrong side of the tracks" horse-wise, I found eventing a relief and a revelation. I could feel the support the sport had for people like me, who were operating on a shoestring and an unhealthy obsession with equines. I've gotten more help, received more advice, and had more fun in this sport, and I would be heart-stricken to think that a girl in my situation would feel left out instead of included because of a rule change or, even worse, a change of heart.
Really, I've had BNT just randomly help me out, or casually answer a question they overheard me asking, and, as a volunteer, I've reveled in the fact that we love what we do and the horses we do it on. I don't know what to do to make sure that this sense of support and equality (so eloquently written about in Denny's unwritten rules) sticks around, but I know it's important.