Yesterday afternoon, one of my readers alerted me to the fact that the plan to bring back the diving horse act to Atlantic City had been abandoned by the new owners of the Steel Pier. The internet is a powerful medium for change, and a petition against the act garnered 50,000 signatures at Change.org. That’s all it took. I’m wondering whether the developers thought there were fewer animal rights activists now than there were in 1993? Have they thought about bringing back the organ grinders — just as a flyer, to see if anyone objects?
Is that a lead rope on that monkey?
So we’re stuck with racing and Rolex when it comes to extreme horse sports, at least for the time being. But wait! There’s more! How about the puissance?! And you also get…the Tevis Cup! Think about extreme horse sports now and you’ll get Grand Prix dressage!
Do you think all those folks signing the petition against the diving horse act over at Change.org know about the battle over blood in the 20 x 60 meter arena?
There’s news there as well. It’s actually yesterday’s news, reported yesterday on eurodressage.com, which is itself reporting on yesterday’s news (actually, February 3rd’s news) regarding “the blood rule.”
In preparation for discussion at the 2012 FEI Sport Forums in April, the FEI Dressage and Legal Departments issued FEI Guidelines directed to all FEI Dressage officials, calling it a “regulatory explanation for eliminating horses with blood anywhere on their bodies.” Perhaps most striking in the Guidelines is this sentence: “Even in cases where there are no signs of force, bleeding must be regarded as a sign of an unfit Horse, and there is no doubt that an unfit Horse constitutes a welfare issue.”
If you want to feel good about where the FEI Dressage and Legal Departments are coming out on this issue, go here and read everything they have to say. If you want to feel bad seeing horses bleeding from the mouth (there’s something ironic about a bloody tongue sticking out of bloody lips strapped with a flash as a tight as a tourniquet, when the horse is wearing a Happy Mouth bit), the same link will serve.
Reflections on Riding 
OMG! Not only is he wearing a happy mouth, he’s got nasal strips on to open up his sinuses- but the morons strapped it as tight as tight can be with the flash. Why bother with the nasal strip?
HEADDESK
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If you don’t have hands, I guess one solution is to put anything you can think of on your horse’s face.
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My God, where has the common sense gone in this world! I have bitten my tongue many times; it hurts like hell and I didn’t have a metal bit in my mouth continually grinding down on the wound. I say “blood anywhere…bye bye”.
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It’s been interesting, following the story, how the idea that Parzival might have ONLY bitten his tongue is used as the reason why blood should be allowed in the competition ring.
I know when I bite my tongue or the inside of my mouth, the place where I’ve bitten swells and then I keep biting it. Are horse’s tongues and mouths that different from ours? I don’t know, but once we see blood, it’s pretty clear that there was an injury, regardless of whether the governing bodies make that more or less important than a win in international competition.
If you look at some of those GP horses, their mouths are constantly moving — not only during their tests but afterwards. Sometimes, it’s so extreme, it looks like a neurological problem. I find it hard to believe that after they’ve bitten their tongues or the insides of their mouths, the problem isn’t aggravated. What does it take to have the blood start dripping out of their mouths?
(Elaine — I wish you could talk to the FEI: “I have bitten my tongue many times; it hurts like hell.” It doesn’t get any simpler or more to the point than that.)
The debate, for now, is relegated to the dressage ring. But what about FEI eventing and show jumping? Those are the “elephants in the room.” They’re also the lever that proponents of a consistent rule are using, which would allow for discretion in determining whether a horse showing blood should be able to continue to compete.
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I don’t understand WHY so many people think that animals don’t feel pain the same as we do; they treat their horses like they were nerveless creatures. Here is an animal that can feel a fly land on a fur covered body, and you don’t think he can feel that whip or spur?! You don’t think his tongue is just as sensitve as ours? That his muscles can’t get sore from overwork? I realize that horses have a built in sensor that blocks pain in extreme cases for survival (like a TB that can continue to run after it breaks it’s leg, when we would be curled up on the ground screaming), but that doesn’t mean it isn’t aware of it’s body pain, 24/7 just like us. It’s a living, breathing, creature with an animal SOUL. TREAT IT AS SUCH!
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