>>>> He didn't thank his horse - which I suspect does not understand English or Norwegian. This major poster on the site is happy to criticise a person who she has not met, does not know, and has no idea about how he trains horses or people. So, as a competition rider, after reading that post do I think the rest of the information here is going to be a value? Once again.... it's all in the presentation....
John, my posts here aren't always about CHANGING the way things are. Sometimes they are about UNDERSTANDING the way things are, and that's a big difference. The posts simply can't be aimed to be equally effective to the people on this list (who share common values for the most part) as they are for people in other cultures, speaking other languages with whom our values may be quite different. Sure, changing the rules is a big goal when there are abuses involved. But, for a lot of us, it's a HUGE undertaking simply to try to get a grasp on how values can be so different in different countries...or in this case, with so many people who ride Icelandic's competitively. That Stian didn't thank Jarl was just one clue...but that the other guy didn't dismount the horse to check the hoof until he was well outside the arena, and then he smoked, and acted totally unconcerned? And that Eidfaxi didn't bother to name Jarl in that article, but only listed the rider's name? When I think about it, I've never felt so "outside" of any horse culture as I feel "outside" the Icelandic horse culture. I such a HUGE divide from my world to theirs that I'm not sure it's worth trying to change. That sort of thing just doesn't happen in the USA, at least not with people like us. The horse always gets named and credited, or it does most of the time. It's about the horse, not about winning, so we're coming at this from hugely different perspectives. If we are debating whether to try to change things or to withdraw from this battle, don't you think that's critical to see how much common ground we have? Did you ever hear the old poker player's saying - "you have to know when to hold them and know when to fold them." Sometimes, in certain circumstances, we can hold on and try to change things, but other times we have to simply walk away and find a more productive use of our time. I don't know what's right here, but unraveling the cultural differences may give us insight. Gosh, we've gotten so many lectures in the past for not understanding the way things are done in Iceland, or how things are done in Icelandic showing. I think these are huge clues of how dramatically different our values are. We can change rules MAYBE, but we can't change the values of other cultures... I simply don't know how I might present that any differently. It's just what it is. Honestly, I don't aim my posts to be read by competition riders. I think I'd be pretty arrogant to do that. Sometimes it's not just in the presentation...sometimes it's in how it's read. Karen Thomas, NC
