October
MayTrust the experts
I have been a regular reader of Winning Post since its inception in the late 1980s by Father Joe Giacobbe and the Doxa Foundation.
I can’t recall in that time a more interesting and controversial “Your Say” page than the May 12 edition, where we had four regular contributors taking different slants towards the whip controversy.
I am certainly not going to express any personal opinion, as I am not a horseman and therefore am unqualified.
However I am torn between my total opposition to animal cruelty, and my gratitude over the years for the frequent occasions when I am sure strong whip riding has been the difference between winning and losing.
From what I have read on the subject there are too many professionals opposed to additional limits on the use of the new padded and modified whip for it to be taken for granted that its use as required is cruel.
These people are horsemen (not extremists, not presumptuous writers) who love their horses, and endure long hours and privations 365 days a year in caring for their well being.
Peter Moody’s book A Long Way From Wyandra is a perfect illustration of this fact.
I’ll take their word against those like myself who have nothing to do with the daily care of the horse.
Brighton (Qld)