where are we with the rollkur/hyperflexion/LDR issue?

After reading (and sharing here) a lot of information over the past week, and giving myself time to sit with all of it for a day, I decided to stop researching and reading for a bit and try to make sense of where I think we are with reference to this issue.

The FEI had the round-table discussion. They received 41,000 signatures from people saying NO TO ROLLKUR.

One thing I want to clarify. My signature said no to rollkur, hyperflexion, AND the method Sjef and company are now calling LDR (Low/Long, Deep, and Round). People are saying we anti-rollkur folks are buying the trick. They've just (yet again) changed the name and everything is the same as it always was.

We haven't bought that. We know what's going on.

Whatever name you give it, this is a training method that not only doesn't work in terms of creating a happy, harmonious, beautiful ride, it does harm in the process. That is actually the easy part of this whole thing. It's simple to look at a photo or video and see what is WRONG with those pictures.

The difficult issue here is that the gestalt of the method, the people who use it, the people who are being rewarded for using it with sponsors, medals, and ribbons, and money for doing clinics, the fact that much money is made and followers gained, THAT is not as easily undone.

I am choosing to think of this as an onion. To undo the onion, you peel away the layers. You could smash the onion to smithereens with a mallet, but if we practice the same humane-ness we preach, what we do is peel the layers away one at a time.

This FEI meeting was one more layer. An important layer, because lots of people were watching, and reporting, and talking about the outcome. A huge number of people coordinated to get names on petitions and then get them to Gerd Heuschmann.

Those same people have a huge amount of power when it comes to coordinating for the next layer. Can you imagine 41,000 still and video cameras watching and recording from the sides of warm-up arenas?

41,000 people each educating 5 more friends about the damage this method does to horses? That many people writing to sponsors and refusing to pay for shows, clinics, and horses trained using these methods?

This issue is not resolved. The FEI can't resolve it. They do have a tremendous role to play, and that is to create objective, easy to apply definitions in place for judges and stewards. Interestingly, this requires ZERO change in the rules. Because the rules already support the horse: the correct movement, and the horse's welfare.

All the FEI has to do is step up and empower the people who enforce the rules. And take a stand against the money-hungry riders and trainers who don't comply.

But it's the 41,000 plus who have the power to resolve the issue.

Don't give up. Keep watching and talking and reporting. Take your video camera with you to shows. Use it. If you see someone using this (or any) inhumane method, turn them in.

Speak out, loudly. If you see a rider ribboned for behind the vertical riding, say something about it. Ask why. Quote the rules.

Don't support companies who support this kind of training and riding. Horse people tend to buy tons of gear and equipment. Make a list of sponsors who support riders and trainers using these methods. Check the list when you go shopping. Don't use these companies. Take it a step further. Send them a copy of your receipt and tell them WHY you didn't buy their product.

Don't ride at venues, or for judges, that support this type of riding. Again, let them know WHY. If you see inhumane methods being used and allowed, and nothing is done by show management to stop it, call Animal Control.

If there are no rollkur-free shows to go to, MAKE NEW ONES. Seek out judges who will judge by the current rules. Put stewards in place who will not back down when they see infractions.

Actively support riders, trainers, and clinicians who utilize effective, humane methods. Buy their books, go to their clinics, let them know you like the way they're doing things. Look up their sponsors, and let the sponsors know you support these riders.

The fact is, if everyone who signed the petitions acts in even one of the above ways, we'll peel more layers off that onion.

It doesn't happen in one meeting. It isn't instant gratification.

Change takes persistence. Change takes time.

The horses are worth it.