Industry: Expectations, Disapointments, Redemption?

The horse industry has its many good points, but it also has its flaws. One flaw that is especially seen in the Western Pleasure horse industry, in regards to futurity horses, is the problem of taking short-cuts. This issue was clearly seen in the abuse of the Quarter Horse Slow Lopin Scotch, under the care of Cleve Wells Quarter Horses. I am not here to lay the finger of blame or make any aqusations. A quick Google search will lend a myriad of information regarding the case as well as the inserted link. I'll let you make your own decisions.

Why I mention this is that my own opinions of Cleve Wells was definitely marred by the case. I had no desire to condone him and was supportive of the America Quarter Horse's one year ban ruling.

On March 6, 2010 I attended an online Pleasure Horse clinic put on by horsetrainingchannel.com. I was questioning attending because Cleve Wells was a primary clinician, but I chose to attend because I wanted to hear and learn from the other two clinicians Rusty Green and Shane Dowdy.

After watching and reviewing the clinic multiple times, I have to say that Cleve Wells did not win all of his world championships for nothing and I saw no abusive practices what-so-ever, from which I was pleasantly surprised. Shane Dowdy, on the other hand, was actually harder on his horse and pushed the limits than the other clinicians and some of the techniques he implemented I would not use on my horse.

What I am getting at is that we all do not know the whole story, we never will, and I feel that we should take each person with a grain of salt. I do not support or condone the harm that was implemented on Slow Lopin Scotch, but I feel there may be a time for redemption possibly in the future, and forgiveness. I learned quite a bit from the clinic and was extremely glad I participated. And really, you can learn something from everyone, including the village idiot - even if it's what not to do.