enlightened horsemanship through touch

I’ve been slacking around here lately. That doesn’t mean that I’ve been slacking in general, however.
There’s a lot going on behind the curtains, my little pretties!

I can claim no insider knowledge of or participation in upcoming events, but let me whisper in your ear: interesting developments in the horse world are afoot. I will report when I can. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, more on this: Horses For Life has made a statement against Rollkur/hyperflexion that is as persuasive as it is eloquent. Entitled, Enough Is Enough, the Editor’s note accompanying the letter begins

We were going to keep this quiet. Our small part of continuing to make a difference, that no one really needed to know about. But quicker than a rabbit finds his hole, the emails were being forwarded. Surprisingly the emails were being forwarded not just by the anti-rollkur but by the pro-rollkur camp as well. That, I must admit, came as a surprise.

Since we always wanted to make this issue freely available anyways, we do so now today for a limited time.

On behalf of our continuing efforts for the horses.
From the Desk of the Editor of Horses For LIFE Magazine

The following email/letter was sent out as a special request, on behalf of the veternarians that feel that their voice is not being heard, to close to 150 officials at the national level.

You can view the entire online magazine here

Dear Mesdames/Sirs:

I am sure that you have been inundated with emails about the rollkur issue. Our online magazine, Horses For LIFE recently dedicated an issue to that subject. In response, several of our readers, all of them practicing veterinarians contacted us and made a special request. They requested that we make this issue available for free to certain officials of the USDF and USEF.

Below is a link to this issue. This is what we refer to as our flip version. If you click the diagonal arrow at the top of the page, the magazine will appear full screen on your computer. If you hover over the magazine itself and then click, you can zoom in or out, and if you hover over the right side you will see a white arrow to virtually flip the page to see and read the rest of the magazine.

I would like to especially direct your attention to certain articles including Jean Luc Cornille’s Hyperflexion: A Failure of Olympic Proportion, Stealing the Dragon’s Breath, The Changing Perception on Stretching, which addresses the issues of Poll Ossification, and Enough is Enough, among others.

Below is one of many letters that we received from the veterinarians who are adamantly concerned about the effects of hyper-flexion on the psyche and the body of the horse.

“At least the notorious “Blue Tongue Dressage” video has reawakened the outcry among horse enthusiasts against Rollkur (hyper-flexion). The problem is that horse lovers, veterinarians, and true horsemen have been complaining about this abuse for years, to no avail. The FEI has in the past given lip service to the concerns, while essentially doing nothing. Worse, yet, the FEI even states that its various “experts” have determined that hyper-flexion in “short” increments does not hurt the horse mentally or physically.

As the wave of antipathy towards equine sport swells among the internet savvy animal lovers, it portends a dangerous progression for future developments in dressage.

The dressage community needs to correct this problem of horse abuse from within, rather than let animal rights groups stifle the entire sport or (even the legality of people’s right to ride horses), from without.

Your professionally produced presentation about the abuse to the horse caused by Rollkur (hyper-flexion) riding contains numerous testimonials and articles from scientists in biomechanics, horsemen, and equine behaviorists, as to how and why Rollkur is harmful to the horse. The photos of horses being subjected to the cruelties imposed upon them by man moves one to tears.

If we, in the sport, do not condemn and stop this practice, we will be stopped altogether by those more radical groups which have the funds and public support to carry out their agenda of abolishing all horse sport. Who in dressage could even think that Rollkur would have anything in common with a discipline which is supposed to be promoting the horse and rider in lightness, self carriage, elegance, grace and creating the impression that the horse is doing all his movements of his own accord? Please help stop the abuse of the horse.”

On behalf of the horse we, here at Horses For LIFE, offer freely to you this issue in the hope that we can further help the horse. If we can be of any help, in promotion of the work that you do on behalf of the horse, or if you think some of our articles might help your local , regional , or national areas through your own newsletters and magazines, please contact us and we would be pleased to assist.

Working together on behalf of the horse.

Warm Regards,
Nadja King

Editor
Horses For LIFE Publications

http://horsesforlife.com

equestriansquest@horsesforlife.com