Greetings from Donwenna, Samira knows we have the same problem with the equestrian activities: we can't do as many things with horses at SCA events as we would like. In fact, 1 year the horses had to wear diapers at Gulf Wars! And we Equestrian Marshals have to enforce these kind of regulations no matter how absurd they may be.
The point is that the SCA is a club that is about people --not animals. While it can be argued that the people want to play in the club with their animals, the bottomline is that most people in the SCA do not want to deal with animals. As general populace,they don't want to worry about stepping in dog doo or on road apples. As Autocrats they don't want to portion off space specifically for our use especially when space costs more or is at a premium. As BoD members they do not want to deal with the liability issues of dog bites and horse kicks. We owe a huge debt to every Equestrian Marshal and Houndmaster because they have been the first line of defense to allow us to play in the SCA with our animals. They are our advocates and as such they have put their very reputations on the line for us. They are the ones who enforce the regulations that allow us to play in this non-dog/ non -horse club. We all have to work under restrictions in the SCA: the archers can't do stuff in combat that they would love to do, the heavies can't fight with real swords, etc. I think we have to give ourselves congratulations that we do have such a diverse groups of activities within this one club and that we are allowed to do this much as together. As we prove that we can do more things safely, we will be allowed to do more. Case in point, when I was Society Equestrian Officer 10 years ago, the BoD said 'no jousting and no mounted combat.' After a stellar track record for the past ten years (parrt of which icludes training Equestrian Marshals who enforce and know the regs),our current Society EM stated her case to the BoD and we are now allowed to do mounted (boffer) combat and (foam) jousting. See, she like all the EMs enforce the regs, but is our advocate--- Just like the Houndmasters. Lets continue to work together and remember that we 'animal people' have a come a long way in getting animals into the SCA. Ever in Service, THL Donwenna la Mareschale (Beast Healer) http://donwenna.homestead.com/HUNT_GUILD.html Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA_Coursing/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
