When it comes to the infernal, eternal Welly Wars, I’m not surprised people have started to bury their heads in the sand. Not because the truth is too difficult to bear (oh if only we had the whole of that), but because this is getting so very, very old. I was sent a link to two letters posted in today’s Town Crier. I realize you might just hit ‘close’ on your browser right now, but the two letters form an interesting contrast because they so clearly represent the opposing positions.
Here is Barbara Lundy’s letter, titled Everyone Should Follow the Rules
And here is Signor B’s letter, titled Protect Horse Industry from ‘Gang of Three’
You almost don’t need to read them to know what they are going to say, based on their titles. I don’t blame you if you don’t bother.
In a couple of weeks I’ll be posting an interview I conducted with M&M of ESP, shortly after the issue of Horse Sport International, in which the interview also appears, is published. And until something really big happens – like a truce (unlikely), or secession (more unlikely) or a murder (let’s hope not!) – I think I’ll give this topic a rest for a while. I’m sure you would rather I turn my attention to other matters, too.
For next week, I think I’ll bring myself up to speed on the FEI sanctioned rider lists. They are always good for a gasp or two. In the meantime, the firing up of the difficult-t0-spell and harder-to-pronounce Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup series in Abu Dhabi last week got me to thinking that the FEI sure isn’t trying to be the UN. My eagle eye for irony is particularly drawn to the fact that the FEI Prez is one of the most liberated women in the Arab world today, and yet in the FEI press release she calls the new four year sponsorship “the jewel in the crown” of the FEI. Glowing praise for a country that is currently top of the class on the list called Worst of the Worst, which ranks the world’s most repressive societies. Did you know Saudi Arabia is also the only country in the world where women are forbidden from driving? In its World Report 2012, Human Rights Watch pointed out this little tidbit, along with a dirty laundry list of other human rights transgressions. Just sayin’.
