|
May 2007 • VOLUME 21 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine Horse Show In Heaven.
One day in heaven, Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint John were standing around near the horse paddocks watching the horses frolic. "I am certainly bored," stated John. "Me too," Paul chimed in as Peter stood and watched the horses. "I know!" Peter began. "Why don't we have a horse show?" Paul and John thought that the idea was great except for one small detail that Paul pointed out. "Who are we to compete against, Peter?" Paul asked. The trio pondered a moment, then Peter realized the answer. "We will call up Satan and invite him to the horse show. I mean, we have all of the finest horses here in heaven, all of the World and National Champions are here. His stable is riddled with the spoiled, difficult and mean horses. We are certain to win at the show!" And so the trio called up Satan on the other-realm communication lines and invited him to their horse show. Satan laughed and asked why they would want to be humiliated like that, because he would certainly beat them. Peter, Paul and John did not understand. "What do you mean Satan?" Peter asked. "We have all of the National and World Champion horses in our stable in heaven. How could you possibly beat us? Satan paused a moment and then laughed. "Have you forgotten so soon gentlemen? I have all the judges!" This joke has been passed back and forth across the Internet so many times that is difficult to trace down the original author. I think everyone that owns a horse has read this at one time or another, and laughed at it. Everyone enjoys a good joke. Let's stop for a moment and think about exactly at whose expense this joke is written? It is at the expense of judges all around the world. If I were a judge, I might laugh, but I might also wonder why it is that the judges are the butt of this joke. Are judges so inherently evil that everyone can get a good laugh at this joke? “Satan paused a moment and then laughed. "Have you forgotten so soon gentlemen? I have all the judges!"” I think it says something about the times, that this is a joke. That riders everywhere can laugh together at this joke. We can all relate to each other, knowing that many problems out there are because of the judges. Don't you think that this is possibly a little unfair? We like to blame the judges for everything. We like to blame the judges when we don't do well. We like to blame the judges for rollkur. We like to blame the judges for the loss of collection seen in the dressage arena today. We like to blame the judges when we see a world champion who cannot halt their horse. All the lack of education that any rider displays in the arena appears to be the judge’s fault. Wow! That is an incredibly heavy burden to bear. To be responsible for every single rider out there! To be responsible for every incorrect training method out there! I certainly wouldn’t want that responsibility.
|
|||||||
|
