>>> It's gone!!!! I just went to check and it's not there at all!??? How >>> can that happen?
I wonder if some of the riders in the photographs complained that you used their pictures without their permission? Of course, if that's what happened, that's another sign that what you did was credible. If your complaints were frivolous, I think most people would shrug it off, as some PETA-supporting-extremism. Some of us remember that certain people have publicly posted pictures of US Icelandic shows, evaluations, etc., but have quickly password-protected them when people posted links to them...and a couple of those people were USIHC officers or past officers. That's pretty telling - when the show and evaluation pictures have to be hidden from the public because they don't stand up to scrutiny. In the USA, the TWH stuff used to be pretty out in the open in this area, even 20 years ago when we first got our horses. Then, as public outcry grew, fewer and fewer people participated, and the ones who did gradually "went to ground." The Big Lick stuff seemed to persist in the deeper South for longer, but even Janice now says there are noticeably fewer entries in the padded classes in her area of the deep south. When a group goes to ground, that even more of a sign that things aren't kosher. When the welfare of the horse is a real concern, people generally stay out in the public eye, or at least don't try to hide. Kind of ironic, isn't it - Janice has opened her virtual-irony Florida Fat Circus Pony Academy, while we show videos of our slow-as-paint-drying-early-training-videos...and we just started showing our "fat and happy" pictures. It's like we're gaining more confidence to be open about the fun we have with our horses, at the same time some people feel a need to become secretive. Is that telling? Karen Thomas, NC
