I am writing with regard to the Aug 06 article about rein tensors. In the very last paragraph there is mention of 5 lb spikes in rein tension, lowering to 1 lb spikes in between, with a mean tension of 3 lbs being what most riders considered to be a good rein contact!!!! I was pretty stirred up when I read this as I don't think 3 lbs is good rein contact at all! I just went out into the kitchen and picked up 3 1lb cans and held the bundle as if I had reins and I was pretty shocked that this is considered normal and good! Also, don't scare me!!!, are they implying that EACH rein has this spike or the combined weight of both reins is this value? Heaven help horses if this is what they are suffering through. I figure that the combined total should be no higher than 2 lb at the very highest. Something is wrong if people are hauling on their horses this hard.

I did read the whole article and understand what they are trying to do and that the data needs to be looked at more carefully but this really disturbed me. Has anyone else remarked about this?

Sincerely, Margaret

Are you ever going to go to a paper magazine? I do not have enough time to spend at my computer to read your EXCELLENT Magazine. I travel a lot and would LOVE to see it in print. The traveling allows me the only free time to actually sit down and read to catch up on all my magazines. Thanks - Jane

Hi Jane,

Going to a paper issue is one of the things that we talk about most frequently around here. We have decided that we will give it serious consideration, once our subscriber base is large enough to ensure that we will not follow the path of other magazines that have unfortunately found it too difficult to sustain financially.

In the meanwhile we are considering various alternatives to offer some of the articles in print. I would be curious, if offering the articles in the PDF version as we did in our last issue was on any help at all? We also have been asked to consider offering the entire magazine in one PDF document that our readers could print off at home. Would that help at all?

Thanks for the enquiry.

Warm Regards,
Nadja King
Editor
Horses For LIFE Magazine

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Thanks so much for your response. It makes a lot of sense that you would need to build your subscriber base first. I think the PDF version is helpful as well. However, I think that your pricing may be a little high due to the fact that other magazine subscriptions are anywhere from $14-$24/year. I think your magazine is far superior to others. I get Dressage Today and the USDF monthly magazine. After the holidays when it slows down, I may try your 3-month version just to see if I do indeed find time to sit at the computer and read.

Thanks again for your response. I am attending a large dressage clinic this weekend and intend to distribute your website to everyone there. Thanks.

Jane Crowley
www.janecrowley.net

Hi Jane,

I truly do appreciate the feedback. Yes our price is higher than most magazines. For several reasons. One is that we are not advertiser driven, we are completely subscription driven. Which means that we have no advertisers currently. This was a conscious decision on our part as we wanted our writers and editors to feel like they had complete freedom in their speech without worrying about the effect on the advertisers. Another factor is that we have incorporated many special features that just could not be done in a paper magazine. We have video incorporated right into our articles AND we can use computer technology to literally create moving pictures. We have been thrilled with how this last recent feature truly does add an incredible sense of being there as well as the educational value involved.

Another added bonus value is that currently, I don't know how much long we will have this feature, when anyone signs up for a subscription, not only do they get the upcoming issues, but they currently get all back issues as well. So for example if you signed up today, you would get full access to all the issues from September 2005 to November 2006 INCLUDED in your subscription. That is well over 200 additional articles. It is a truly incredible resource. One we are thrilled to be sharing with our readers.

If you do know of anyone that is interested in a subscription I would suggest that you encourage them to sign up soon so that they can be assured of this incredible bonus.

Warm Regards,
Nadja

Letter to David Holmes, chairman of our governing body of dressage.

Dear Sir,

I write with regard to the British Dressage Convention. Anky Van Grunsven and Sjef Jannsen are well known for their use of the controversial training method, known as 'rollkur', or 'LDR'. I am simply astonished that this abhorrent practise has been 'sanitised' even in the Horse and Hound report, by trivializing the effect on the horse, especially in caption of one of the photographs- 'Is that what all the fuss is all about'? Anky demonstrates LDR with a resisting hand not a pulling hand'.

I would suggest that you look at this video clip-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YODFSUs8_zw

There is a whole selection of such clips here, taken by biomechanics expert Dr Ulrike Thiel, at the Dutch National championships. Backward pulling hands, jabbing spurs, horses literally so frightened of the leg that both hindlegs are jumping forwards together. It is abuse, pure and simple. The horse cannot see where he is going in this position, so is totally subservient to the rider. He has no choice.

When taking lecture demos ( I am an invited lecturer at the Equitana in Germany next March, and where I will be loudly condemning this practise) I ask audiences to sit with chin tucked right into the neck, for a mere thirty seconds. After fifteen seconds, most are rubbing the back of the neck, and after thirty seconds, all are exclaiming how painful it is. Yes, just thirty seconds. Does the horse feel any less pain than a human when forced into this position? I doubt it. Contrary to Anky's insistance that the horses are only ridden in LDR for short periods, in the video clips, they will be seen to be ridden in this manner, for ten minutes in trot then immediately into canter for a further ten minutes, without a single break.

The damage it is doing to horses, even in experienced hands, is proven, despite the FEI's 'findings'. Vet and FEI judge,. Dr Gerhard Heuschmann, who has been lecturing all over the world against rollkur, has now written a book, entitled 'Open Wounds' about the effects on the horse of this cruel training system. How sad to think that such a book is even necessary, and that Dr Heuschmann, Klaus Balkenhol, Christine Stuckelberger, Ingrid Klimke and others, have also seen the need to found the Xenophon Society, to promote a return to Classical training principles and humane treatment of the horse.

British Dressage is doing the horse no favours by appearing to find this practice acceptable. It may well encourage inexperienced riders to try LDR, and the potential for abuse and damage is enormous.

Yours truly,

Heather Moffett

www.enlightenedequitation.com

To whom it may concern,

The hitting of horses during horse races is archaic and barbaric. I have found no reasonable argument for this continued abuse. It sends out a bad message and is not part of a civilised society.

With the coming of the Animal Welfare Act surely things must change…won’t it be confusing for offenders who are prosecuted for cruelty, when whipping horses can be seen daily on the BBC and Channel 4?

The only argument used is one of safety and can be countered by allowing the carrying of the whip but not its abuse, by hitting.

I have a petition which I hope to present to the Jockey Club/BHB et al:

www.webpetitions.com/cgi-bin/print_petition.cgi?99500830

This petition needs to be publicised in order to give the public a chance to lend their voice and any help with publicising it would gratefully appreciated.

We don’t hit any other animals in this way, why horses? They are just as sensitive to pain as dogs or cats. The implication made by hitting horses is that it is okay and the corollary of that is that abuse and neglect of equines is commonplace. We need to work on this shameful state of affairs and I believe if we start on this high profile example we are making a high profile statement.

Violence towards equines is ingrained in our society because of a relationship that is anachronistic and needs to change.

It is the 21st Century and public opinion in this matter, if marshalled, would go along way to making the world a better place for us all.

Many thanks
Neal Wailing
Oxford