Following my previous blog EPONA TV provided the following response on their Facebook Page to the points raised in my review. I will not be commenting further.
"This is a carefully written and well considered review of 'I Can't Watch Anymore' for which I am very grateful. There are some misunderstandings in it (from my perspective) which seem to be down to the author having caught on quite recently to what I am trying to do. I try to answer those below. But above all, kudos to Mr Wetdog for even engaging with the book. He may not think it's heroic, but it kind of is.
As I have often said, I am not actually trying to shut down all horse sport (just the bits that are cruel) but if I were, the only way I could be stopped would be if the industry put on its big boy pants and began to sort itself out.
Anyway - now to my clarifications:
>>> Can anything really be described as “an open letter “ if you have to pay £15:00 to read it? <<<<
It’s an open letter to the IOC. 102 copies – one for each member – were delivered by courier and the book is available in the Olympic Library. Thank you to the early buyers of the book for making this possible.
Claim: It’s naïve to take the FEI’s assertion that sport horses are willing partners at face value. Yes, if you’re a horse person. But the FEI uses this lie to strengthen its brand with people outside the sport and many believe it. It's important to me to to hold the IOC accountable for allowing this lie to proliferate in its own promotions.
Quote:
>>> as much of the evidence on the unsuitability of equestrian sport in the book revolves around the ethological argument that horse sport is contrary to the horses nature<<<
The book is not about all horse sport. It's specifically about elite horse sport, which – with its intensive management, extensive travel, frequent uprooting and extreme physical loads – is not sustainable. Not because it's "unnatural" but because it renders impossible the keeping of horses in accordance with their ethological needs.
If anyone thinks keeping horses in accordance with their ethological needs renders all horse sport untenable, that's on them.
Claim:
Book contains contradictory message: I once wanted to save the sport by making the FEI enforce its rules. Now I am trying to lighten the FEI of its responsibility to govern international equestrian sport.
That’s not contradictory to my mind. It just reflects the fact that I change my mind when presented with new evidence.
Question: What will happen to the horses?
I’ve covered that in this blog post a while ago, or so I hope:
https://www.epona.tv/post/won-t-somebody-think-about-the-horses
Claim:
Equids in the wild have it tough as well and can be attacked by their own kind.
Whilst that is true, aggression is far higher in groups of domestic equids than in feral and free ranging herds. Again, see blog post linked to above. Nobody (well, not here) is suggesting we turn domestic horses out into the wild.
Claim:
We can’t turn all the horses free in Gloucestershire.
No we definitely can’t but we can stop causing pain and fear to them for human entertainment and enrich their lives as much as possible in domesticity. Reducing the demands on elite sport horses does not necessarily mean turning them all loose in Gloucestershire. Horses can, thankfully, do horsey things in a domestic setting.
Quote:
>>> while horses may prefer to be ‘doing horsey things’, showing off at a competition would appear to be among them.<<<
To me, that is a little bit naive. I would have to ask: appear to whom? To a lot of people, it doesn’t really appear that way and there certainly is no data to support it."
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My only response
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"I'm not showing off or enjoying myself!!"
Neville at Hartpury FOD 2017
©Harveywetdog |
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