We hear your concerns about “Sometimes You Have To Read Between The Lines,” the opinion piece published online on June 8, and thank you for expressing them to us and to each other. We realize that it was painful for many people to read these words, and we’ve debated whether the piece should be removed. Even amongst ourselves, we struggled with whether leaving it up online would aid the conversation or detract from it.

In the end, we decided to leave it up because this commentary provides a record of where the sport was at this time. The fact is, it sparked an important discussion. We are not promoting the author as an expert on systemic racism but as representing the view of a prominent person in the horse industry. Our goal is to educate and effect change by having these difficult conversations.

No one on the Chronicle editorial or ownership team supports the statements made in this commentary, and we all will work toward creating a more diverse equestrian universe. We concluded that we would more effectively tackle the problem by acknowledging a view that contributes to understanding the realities of what people currently believe and experience.

This dialogue is, we hope, opening many eyes, and we pledge to continue bringing different voices into it and learning from them all.

The Chronicle of the Horse team