That is, IF they can behave themselves...
Dear ,
In tonight's Summit of the Horse Blog we share a positive and a negative.
First, we have been honored and had our hearts warmed by a number of horse rescue owners who have sought us out to thank us for our work in providing a necessary option for horse owners.
As our President, Dave Duquette says, "No one really cares to think about horses getting processed. The reality is many horses are suffering far worse lives and deaths than a quick, humane death could ever be. Please help us help them through our realistic system that will end unnecessary suffering." To that end, we are issuing an open invitation to other rescues and equine programs who agree with our pragmatic approach to work with us to help as many horses as possible find new purposes and new homes...and to ensure proper humane handling for those where such a fate is not possible.
In regards to the second post, it is probably no secret to anyone who has been involved in horse issues in recent times that there are so-called horse "advocates," some of whom are vicious and unprincipled who continue to lie, twist the truth, and attack individuals rather then engage in any kind of reasoned civil discourse. Being at ground zero of many of those attacks I long ago came up with a standard procedure:
If the message contains a direct threat of violence it gets immediately sent to the FBI who maintains a file specifically for this purpose.
If the message engages in name-calling or disrespectful language the sender is immediately placed on my "blocked" list so that I never have to be subjected to abuse from that particular source again.
If the message maintains at least a minimum of decorum, but is opposed to what we are doing, I respond respectfully with the logic and reasons behind our various positions...this is the way that we can come to a better place.
Civility matters, and we will tolerate no less.
For this reason, and because we became aware of an effort to organize a protest of our Summit, we have established the following policy:
Protests and/or disruptive behavior inside the Summit room will not be tolerated-anyone creating or participating in such disruptions will be immediately escorted out by security and all registration dues or other funds will be forfeited.
Everyone is welcome at the Summit of the Horse, and welcome to express their opinion so long as they are respectful of other participants and decorum is maintained. There will be disagreements, of course, but that does not mean that we have to be disagreeable.
As friends pointed us towards this effort to disrupt the Summit, it lead us to cold hard proof of what we have suspected all along. These groups which feed on misinformation and emotional scare tactics are engaging in absolutely blatant fraud by encouraging their supporters to look up the zip codes in an elected officials district and claim to live there sending many multiples of the same message, and vowing to make thousands of phone calls using fraudulent addresses and names. Classic astroturfing--an artificial manufactured political movement designed to give the appearance of grass roots activism.
Needless to say, we have informed Congress and the Administration and the Agencies of this travesty with the firm suggestion that they ignore any and all such mass campaigns.
Both posts--our sincere invitation to Rescues, and the proof of fraud--are below, and on the Summit of the Horse Blog.
Sue Wallis, Vice President
United Horsemen, and
Breeder of Quarter-Horses
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