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Dear Fjord List Members,
I know I'm not the final word on Evaluations, but I knew that would get
everyone's attention. Something has been brought to my attention that I
bet a number of you did not fully realize either. Or at least had not
thought through the full implications. We all know the Evaluation
Committee has worked long and hard on the proposals for Evaluations in
the U.S. Do you realize though that after all that work, the Committee
basically has no power to act upon their decisions? They don't. All
they can do is make their recommendations to the Board and wait for an
answer.
There are nine BOD members, and they are likely to have just as diverse
opinions about Evaluations as have been expressed here on the list. That
makes it unlikely that they will just accept the Evaluation Committee's
proposal. Although we do expect BOD members to use their experience and
wisdom to make decisions, we also still have the right and obligation to
make our feelings known on issues affecting us and our horses.
Stick with me here because I'm working up to the point. Do you realize
that despite all the talk back and forth about Evaluations, this time and
the last time they were discussed on the list this Spring, once the talk
dies down nothing has changed? For those who were not on the List in the
Spring, I'll tell you that the discussions about Evaluations back then
were very much the same as what we have just gone through. Most people
are for Evaluations; Some are against. Some people want European
evaluators; Some want American. Many just want SOMETHING to happen no
matter what it is.
But lest you think we've accomplished something, we haven't. Oh sure, a
number of us are fired up right now about having an Evaluation, but soon
the demands of everyday life will bring our thoughts back to more
immediate and pressing things, and very few of the Evaluations will
happen. Yes, it may be true that some people have been swayed in one
direction or another by arguments that have been presented. And it's
possible that we collectively have thought of something that the
Evaluation committee didn't. (I doubt it, though, as they have been over
and over and over this thing.) But I repeat, as of now, we have not
accomplished one single thing! UNLESS, and it's a big unless, YOU
contact a Board member and tell them how you feel!
If you do not contact a Board member and tell him or her what you would
like to see happen in regards to Evaluations, then any comments you made
on the List you may as well have just told to your dog. Or your horse.
Or your doormat for that matter. Because it doesn't matter! I challenge
you to ask someone on the Board what the majority of the membership wants
in regards to Evaluations. If they start to tell you what they THINK we
members want, stop them politely and ask them what they have been TOLD by
the members that the members want. I'll bet you my false teeth they
don't really know BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T TOLD THEM.
When I was in Veterinary School, I learned a lesson applicable to this
situation that I'll never forget. We were having a Nutrition class that
was just plain pitiful. It was poorly organized, poorly presented, and
for the most part was not practical information. I like to try to make a
change for the better when I can, as I hope I'm doing right now, so I
organized a petition to the Dean to let him know how terribly our
Nutrition class was going. Almost every student in the class signed it.
On the day I was ready to bring it to him, we had a class meeting and the
class president told us the Dean had already heard about our petition.
The Dean said he didn't care to read any petition. He wanted us to know
we didn't need a petition. In fact, he just wanted us to come and talk
to him, face to face as individuals. I was stunned and embarrassed. In
all honesty, I had summarily dismissed the thought of going to talk to
the Dean, because I thought "What is one voice going to matter to 'the
powers that be' ? He won't care about what just one person thinks."
The truth is, elected officials (and our BOD members) do care what one
person thinks. One Congressman admitted that as few as two hundred calls
will sometimes change his vote on an issue. Two hundred calls out of a
consituency of tens of thousands of people!! If you think about it, all
our discussion on this list has been our "petition" which we've been
hoping that Mike May or Julie Will will take to the BOD for us. Yes,
Mike and Julie are very willing to do that, but how much impact is that
really going to have? Wouldn't it be much better if we each called a BOD
member? To further illustrate my point, what if one person called you
tomorrow morning and told you that, although they didn't want to
embarrass you y
