WHAT is going on with Rath and Totilas?
Check out this article from The Horse where they report that PETA has filed a complaint against Totilas’ owners and rider (Rath) for the use of Rollkur and keeping the horse in a stall for 22 hours/day.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m against Rollkur and strongly opposed to keeping a horse in a stall for any extended period of time, but I kind of wonder if PETA isn’t taking an interest in this for the publicity? Totilas is undeniably one of the superstars of dressage (even in his less awesome, post-Gal life).
Then again, if they’re in it primarily for the publicity, why not go after Patrick Kittel? He’s such an easy target these days he practically has a bullseye on his back.
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Patrik Kittel. Blech.
It’s amazing the difference a rider can make in a horse. With one, Totilas floated on air and was a super star. With the other, still a great horse, but one who struggled against his rider. Whatever happens, Totilas deserves better.
One target at a time? The bigger the better? Everyone is familiar with Toto and sympathize for him. Easier to sway public opinion then to choose Kittel? my2cents
Of course they’re in it for publicity. What else?
A) this is the German PETA group.. not whatever Dutch subsidiary group PETA might have.. and not PETA as a whole.. so I’m not surprised at all that they are targeting Schockemohle, and Rath… this isn’t strictly a hyperflexion issue, though hyperflexion clearly IS an issue.
B) Shockemohle has a history of his own with abusing horses… his “poling” practices were exposed back in the early 90s… just google “schockemohle abuse” and you’ll find lots…
C) I’m very, very grateful something is finally being done about what is clearly a dire situation. Anyone who knows and loves Totilas also knows the stallion has sadly gone very far downhill since he changed owners and riders and that he clearly isn’t being well managed or ridden.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK3TzBuGN0w
Yeah. Schockemohle is known to use rapping and I suspect hedgehogging. (Hedgehogging: Wrapping sandpaper or worse around the jump poles).
I agree with Monica: of course they’re in it for the publicity. I mean, I’m glad somebody is going after rollkur (even if it is PETA. Honestly, I cannot stand them), but why target ONE individual? Why not out ALL of them? Better yet, why not go to the root of the problem and pressure the judges/stewards/sport as a whole to stop tolerating the practice and giving high marks for rollkur? If riders started losing major marks for being behind the vertical, guess what? THEY WOULD STOP DOING IT. I’m preaching to the choir though *sigh*
Targeting a single high-profile rider for doing something that a lot of the horse world is trying to stop just screams to me that they’re doing it for the publicity and to try and make themselves look less batshit crazy than they usually do. I won’t judge individual members, but I lost all respect for the group as a whole a long time ago. Publicity, extremism, and shock value seem to be the only way they know how to do things, recently at least, and I get the feeling it hurts their cause more than helps it most of the time.
I would be suprised if the Dutch PETA went after a Swedish rider, they have their own “rollkürists” and we have our own PETA, ALF, DR etc and also good ol’ Länsstyrelsen (official animal protection ). Kittel makes me ashamed to be a Swede, but something good has come of his behaviour: debate. In the magazines, on the forums, on the blogs, and most importantly; at the theory lessons at the riding schools.
Rollkür came from someone having a bad idea (taking a shortcut) and noone had the guts to say no. Bad rolemodels etc etc and what was unthinkable and shameful 20 yrs ago can now be seen at the olympics… but the great thing is that the tide can (and already has started to) turn. Rollkür us no longer cool thanks to angry blogs
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Oh I blab. Sorry bout that.
haha blonde moment, definitely meant swedish and not dutch.. perhaps the topic of rollkur too immediately brings anky to mind..
Oh and Ellen: if you want to file a complaint to the national animal protection service, it has to be against a specific person or organisation. And targeting a high-profile person is the right way to go, if it goes to court it will get a lot of attention. And since (as far as I know) there hasn’t been a case like this in Europe, if it goes to court it wll most likely be escaleted to EU-level and set a new praxis of how to interpret the law when it comes to training methods. The downside of it: if the German AP won’t take it to court, nothings gonna happen.
If PETA wants to go after someone about rollkur, why not those who applied it in the warm up area at the 2012 Olympics? Rollkur is banned at competitions, in the arena or the warm up area, but the Dutch riders were doing it behind a curtain in a small hidden warm up area ON THE OLYMPIC GROUNDS! I saw a video of that shot in secret by a group against rollkur.
Poor Toto. Poor Edward Gal. When is the horse world finally going to ban rollkur effectively? I just don’t know how they can do it, since no one can regulate what somebody does at their own stable, but it seems rather obvious that something could be done by the blatant use rollkur BEHIND A CURTAIN. I mean, jeez. Those riders were not invisible.
So it’s bad that there would be publicity in regards to animal abuse because without it so much enforcement happens – right? Way to go PETA!
I hope you realize what PETA actually advocates, and not just the pretty picture they paint. They are the ultimate abusers when it comes to people and animals. If they had their way, no one would ‘own’ an animal. They’re tactics are dirty handed and disgusting, when they pretend to want to help owners who can no longer keep an animal, and promise to find it a home, and then turn around and put the animal down. I am by no means defending animal abuse, rollkur, or anything of the sort, but PETA makes me disgustingly sick!!!
*begin unpopular comment* Gal used rollkur too. Just throwing that out there. Yes, he was more successful with his application of it than Rath, but that doesn’t really make it better. *end unpopular comment*
Regardless, PETA is ridiculous and all they ever do is embarrass themselves.
Yeah, now I do remember Gal and rollkur, he did it, too. I will continue to say, “Poor Toto,” but I’m retracting “Poor Edward Gal.” I like the idea of someone else on the “ban rollkur” bandwagon, but I dislike the idea that it’s PETA. They are not the ones we want on our side.
PETA is one of the only animal activist groups that gets much press and is able to reveal all sorts of horrific things that are going on in industrial farms, laboratories, etc. It’s such a knee jerk reaction to hate them because they put animals to sleep when often that is the kindest thing to do. PETA doesn’t run shelters but they do try to help – they’ve got lots of members.
Aside from that all shelters put animals down and anti-horse slaughter activists recommend euthansia instead of sending a horse to the auction. I find it really odd that so many people on these horse websites are anti-PETA and quite extreme about it at that. Maybe you guys are feeling guilty about something.. hmmm
Nope, not guilty Abby. Just not fond of extremist groups, particularly those that do more harm then good.
Agreed on the not guilty, they also fabricate a lot of things to get their view across. Which is bad because it makes the undercover videos of abuse that are accurate, questioned or dismissed. I know of one place personally, a elephant sanctuary for elephants that came from circuses or zoo’s. It’s a beautiful place, they give tours often but you can only observe from a distance and all the animals are kept with their ‘friends’ and in very large areas. Some Peta people came and took video (it used to be totally okay to take pictures and videos- now it’s not allowed) and edited it with other shots to make it appear that the workers were abusing the animals. Even though they had a good standing, rating, received excellent care and certainly appeared happy. This was a sanctuary, not a circus- no chains, no tiny pens, no tricks. They weren’t being exploited by any means, but apparently they would have been better off “being put down” than being confined. Or they should have been returned to the wild, where they would have died from shock. I’ve been to this place and know some of the major founders who get serious behind the scene access- we got to go on a special tour.
They have become so largely radical that it makes people turn away from the cause- also not helpful for the animals. People see peta and dismiss whatever it is as a radical thing or fabricated. Even when it may not be. But it’s not just that they put pets down- they work with agencies to seize them and then put them down in mass- without trying to rehome them first. Even kill shelters try to rehome them. Peta just cares about making a stir and promoting their agenda- not actually helping animals.
They contain a lot of viewpoints that are seriously disturbing (like the belief that no animal should be kept as a pet or companion). I used to think they were totally the good guys and that they were doing a lot of good for animal welfare, and then I did some actual digging and as it turns out, not so much.
One of my thesis research papers is about the ethical treatment of animals and how the belief in animal person-hood and consciousness influences our treatment, interaction and exploitation. It’s a knee jerk reaction to hate them because the “help” they give hurts the rest of us and what we’re trying to do. There are plenty of awful things to expose without twisting stuff so why make stuff up?
Seriously agree, they make no secret of the fact that animals are all better off without their evil overlords.
If I remember some gems from the Peta website – Not allowing my dog on the furniture, and making him pee outside are all forms of cruelty. I haven’t seen what they think of horseback riding, but as they don’t believe in using working dogs, I’m pretty sure horses earning their hay is evil too.
Back to topic, check out this trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TahYWzsCdQM
I’m gonna force my riding teacher to purchase a copy
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