No society ever debates a prejudice that isnt dying already. --J.S. Spong I post this for a number of reasons. Those who see their beliefs as representing part of a war against those who are convinced otherwise misunderstand their place in the development of thought and culture. That we are arguing whether /rollkur/ should continue in horsemanship is no longer them point. /Rollkur/ is dying. The tide is going out on that practice because it is self evidently harmful. Those who practice it will become like modern racists, no longer able to own slaves, but forced to resort to their pernicious practices behind closed doors the way bigots do in their minds. We accept this inevitability. What we do not do in enough numbers is to act affirmatively on our convictions. How many of us throw our restrictive tack in the trash instead of trying to make it work gently (which it can never do)? How many of us renounce our memberships in organizations that promote the abuse of the horse? How many of us reexamine our training to the extent that we ride compassionately in all circumstances, whether over jumps, on the trail, or in the arena? Do not tell us what you believe, show us what you are doing! Ghandi said, Be the change you want to see in the world, but the talkers are not doing this in sufficient numbers. The are still buying Dressage Today, still joining the USDF, still buying side reins, still using spurs without any idea how they actually function, still pulling with the hands and kicking with the legs (usually simultaneously), still chasing their horses in circle in a round pen with a stick with a flag on it and calling it longing and running the bucks out, still using phrases like in the frame and drive him forward. What we must seek is not change, though certainly change in the aforementioned areas is good. We must seek transformation. Transformation into an way of being that seeks the freedom of the horse, where imposition is replaced by suggestion. This is fundamental change. The steady drumbeat against the obvious evils like /rollkur/ is just noise, waiting for another evil to take its place.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 03:12:47 +0000
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