Not long ago Diane Trefethen
reported of a communication she had with USEF regarding banning US riders from
participating in endurance events in Dubai in the same way that some European
associations have been doing with their members as a result of the perceived
horse abuse at such events. She was reporting that she had heard back from USEF that they believe they cannot.
Recently, I came across this
communication from Susan Garlinghouse regarding this same subject with respect
to AERC members’ participation in the President’s Cup held in Dubai last
weekend even after having been admonished by Michael Campbell, the AERC’s
outgoing president, to please not do that as he believed that it would reflect
badly on the AERC and endurance riding in the United States.
>>The BoD has spent a great
deal of time and effort considering what "can" be done to discourage
riders from participating overseas in the problem areas. Legally, we cannot
forbid anyone to sell a horse to anyone they want to, as doing so is
suppression of commerce or something along those lines. Our affiliate, USEF,
continues with the position that according to their by-laws and the Ted Stevens
Act concerning international competition, we cannot forbid members who are
qualified and in good standing from competing overseas. We can discourage it,
and we/USEF can state that such competitions will not carry significant weight
in selecting WEG teams. <<
While it is true that the AERC cannot legally forbid anyone
to sell a horse to anyone they want, nor can the AERC forbid anyone from
participating in events anywhere they want to, the AERC CAN deem such people to
be “not in good standing” if they break the rules of the organization.
It is a violation of rule 12 of the AERC to “act in a manner”
that “reflects poorly on the sport of endurance riding.” The full rules can be
found online at
www.aerc.org.
It is quite clear from all of the discussion of this matter
world-wide, from the letter of the outgoing president, and from the joint
letter from AERC/USEF to the FEI that there are LOTS of people think that the
very act of participating in events such as the President’s Cup in Dubai DOES
reflect poorly on the sport of endurance riding. As a consequence, it could
easily be argued that anybody doing so is in violation of the AERC’s rules and
therefore could be found to be “not in good standing” for doing so.
Consequently, Susan’s assertion that the Board cannot do
anything about AERC members participating in such events is false. It can make
a statement that anybody doing so is in violation of the AERC’s rule 12. The
AERC rules (rule 15) also allow the organization to impose the penalty of
suspension for violation of its rules. Or they could be censured for doing so and told that if they ever do it again, they will be suspended.
If the AERC chose to do this, USEF would have no choice but
to “forbid” such people from participating in events in Dubai…or anywhere else
internationally. USEF cannot give permission to people who are “not in good
standing” to participate in such events. To be in good standing with USEF, they
have to be in good standing with the AERC as well.
Please note that I am not expressing any opinion either way
as to whether I think the AERC Board should do this, just that it CAN. So if
the Board is, as Susan states in her post, considering “what it ‘can’ do,” it
should consider this. After which, everybody will know that if the Board
chooses not to do so, it won’t be because it “can’t” do anything about it, but
because it doesn’t want to.
Furthermore, individual AERC members do not have to wait for
the Board to act on this matter. Any member of the AERC can now file a protest
against any of the members of the AERC who did participate in Dubai last
weekend asserting that these people violated rule 12 of the AERC by doing so,
and since they did so even after having been advised against it by the
president of the organization, were told that they would get not ‘credit’ for
having done so, and they would have to have their heads buried in the sand not
to have known BEFORE THEY DID IT that there are a great number of people all
around the world who consider it to be something that reflects badly on endurance
riding, it could be shown to be a serious infraction indeed because it was
clearly intentional.
If a member were to do file such a protest (and not allow themselves to be talked out of it by a "mediator"), the Protest
Committee would have no choice but to respond. The AERC would HAVE to go on
record as to whether participating in the President’s Cup in Dubai reflects
badly on the sport of endurance riding. Consequently, any member of the AERC is
in the position of being able to require the AERC take an official position in
this matter.
Please note that I am not expressing any opinion as to
whether I think an AERC members should do this, just that any one of them CAN.
Individual AERC members are not powerless in this regard.
I will, however, be so bold as to say that any individual
AERC member who DOES believe that participating in the President’s Cup in Dubai
by these AERC members reflects badly on the sport of endurance riding SHOULD have
the courage of their convictions and file such a protest. But they had better
be quick about it, as they only have 30 days from the date of the infraction to
do so.
Me? I cannot. I am not a member of the AERC. And it is for
this very reason that I am not.
At the end of 2103 I had a long telephone conversation with
Mike Maul about the AERC Board of Directors and whether it had either courage
or convictions with regard to the implementation of its rules. He told me “no.”
Such that even individual members of the Board itself that do have conviction are
powerless to change this. Mike Maul had been a member of the AERC Board of
Directors for a long time and had served multiple terms as AERC President. I
believed I could rely on his evaluation in this regard and determined, from his
answers, that membership in the AERC was an exercise in futility. I have not
renewed my membership since.
Since then, I have continued to watch to see whether there
is any indication that either Mike or I were wrong in this determination; I have
not seen any such indication so far. I will continue to watch to see whether
this changes, as there is much about the AERC and endurance riding that I care
deeply about, and I would be eager to support the AERC if it were to show that
it does have courage and conviction. For now, however, all I am willing to do
is support individual ride managers and individual riders in whatever small way
that I can.
kat
Orange County, Calif.