This and That and Snobbery

Howdy all, hope you're having a better week so far than I am!

Among the craptastic annoyances plaguing me this week, the North Horse Facebook page is down. Facebook is trying to make me do some sort of security bullshit, but it's not working. Sorry about that-- hopefully I can get it running again soon.

Next up, this article is obviously dog-centered, but I think it does an excellent job highlighting why "designer breeds" and backyard breeders are bad in general. What's especially interesting is that the "creator" of a "breed" is the one telling it like it is. Check it out:  Labradoodle Creator Now Regrets Cross-Breeding.

In Oklahoma, some very special minis are helping tornado victims recuperate. 

In Michican, two more horse-starving assholes got a slap on the wrist. In my opinion, Timothy Eugene Allen and Tracey Lee Buzzell should have been sentenced to years in prison, at least 18 months of which should have been on a bread-and-water-only diet.

This article about a runaway wagon incident at a new western-themed museum Deadwood, South Dakota is an amusing read. No one was killed and there were only minor injuries, so you can go ahead and laugh at the writer's mistakes and the general chaos of the event. Heh heh, horses wearing "tackle..."

You think America has conflicts over mustangs? Apparently Australia has it far worse. They're about to shoot 10,000 "brumbies" (the Aussie word for mustangs) from helicopters. Jesus fucking Christ. Get involved here.

Returning to local news, have you seen this free mare in Mauston, WI? Ad here. She's not broke, but she's cute, and she needs a home that does NOT have barbed-wire fencing. (click the pic to enlarge)

Now on to some snobbery.

This blogger wrote about the Madison Classic, a very fancy Saddleseat show here in Wisconsin's capitol-- and she found herself sneering at the snobbery and pageantry. There was a lot of hate for horse people in her writing. Among her comments:

• "There’s not a lot of self-examination among many of the people who compete at and attend horse shows, because to do so would be to question their own culture."

• "Horse people may maintain certain pretensions of being working class... But their insular club is highly elite..."

• "A handful of mostly white elite hoisted into the saddle by the brown people who scurry around to make everything perfect for them."

• "I found myself strangely sickened by attending."

• "It seems unlikely I’ll ever own a horse, even though I absolutely love them and adore riding; I just can’t afford the expense of maintaining a healthy, happy, and safe horse. I certainly wouldn’t ever be in the show community both because my riding skills aren’t sufficient, and because it would cause such class discomfort, I’m afraid my coat and tails might explode right there in the saddle."

                   OUCH.

More "Egg & Spoon" less snob & ego!

I hate it when people walk away from horse events with this perception of snobbery. And yet it seems inevitable--
unfortunately, the most public events in the horse world are those that are most likely to alienate people like this blogger. If all I knew about the horse world was from watching A circuit shows, I would probably be alienated too.

"Normal" horse people like you and I need to do more to promote "normal" horse activities to the public. We need to show them a world where newbies are embraced, saddles don't cost $3,000, we do our own dirty work, and shows are for fun. If we don't put that perception out there, we not only fall victim to the "we're snobs" stereotype, we lose people who might otherwise have joined the horse world. And we all need those people. They are the folks who will, once converted, bring more time, money and energy to our registries, clubs, shows and boarding barns.

This comment on the blog from one of the readers especially saddened me:

 "...to me, horse riding will ALWAYS be one of those things that 'really rich people' do. No exceptions. There's just nothing in my head that can break that thought process. And now I have a 4 year old who is obsessed with horses, and I feel like 'ggaaahh I will never be able to afford anything with horses...'"

Poor kid. Because her mother fell victim to the stereotypical perception of horse people, she may never get to experience being with a horse.