The FEI (International Equestrian Federation) e-mail slid across my screen like a smooth rock across slick ice – quick and out of site. An object glanced at for a moment and then trashed.

Later in the day I’m talking with a friend who is an avid barrel racer and wife of a veterinarian. “Did you see the release from FEI on ‘Rollkur?’ ” she asked.

What the heck? Rollkur? I thought back on the FEI release but didn’t recall much beyond the quick highlights about a round-table conference, dressage and the monitoring of the warm-up pen at FEI-sanctioned events.

“Rollkur,” my friend informed me, is a moniker for the extreme version of a method of training known as “Low, Deep and Round” (LDR), where the horse’s neck is flexed and his nose positioned back toward his chest. In the press release, it said, “The group redefined hyperflexion/Rollkur as flexion of the horse’s neck achieved through aggressive force, which is therefore unacceptable. The technique known as Low, Deep and Round, which achieves flexion without undue force, is acceptable.

The press release went on to report that no rules would be changed. Instead, “The FEI management is currently studying a range of additional measures, including the use of closed circuit television for warm-up arenas at selected shows.”

Good grief, I thought, how is the FEI possibly going to enforce such a subjective call between what is LDR and Rollkur? Then again, I suppose it’s like determining what is and what is not “acceptable” in our own arena.

In the February 2010 American Quarter Horse Journal, there was a full transcription of the “Do Right By The Horse” speech Dr. Jim Heird gave at the 2009 AQHA Judges Conference. Heird has been an AQHA judge for 30 years and works at Texas A&M University. The speech addressed the need for the Quarter Horse industry to address animal welfare in a real way, or else.

Citing comments made by a fellow faculty member and expert on the subject of animal welfare, Hierd said in his speech, “He believes that as an industry we are ‘low-hanging fruit’ for the animal activists of the world. He believes that, as an industry, we have conflicted the line of personal ethics and societal ethics, and that, in fact, we are guilty of ignoring the things that we at first found offensive and have now even begun to defend. He believes that the show ring is the next place for animal activists to spotlight. He believes we must immediately cease what we are doing that is inhumane and that can’t be defended to any rational audience that loves horses.”

Hierd said what a lot of people in the performance horse industry think but would not dare say in a public way. The worst thing would be to raise red flags and draw attention to ourselves.

The associations in our corner of the Western equine industry – particularly the NCHA – actively addresses concerns about animal welfare and the importance of protecting the well-being of the horses and cattle involved in performance horse sports. That’s wonderful. But I’m struck by one sentence in the FEI press release that stated, “The group [FEI round-table participants] also emphasized that the main responsibility for the welfare of the horse rests with the rider.”

Yes, our industry can have cameras in the practice pens at the big shows. Yes, we can have rules in place, punishments meted out and all the good intentions in the world. But there is no way to censure what a rider does at the show or in the privacy of home.

If you have a computer, Google “Rollkur.” There are Web sites, Facebook pages, images, YouTube videos, forums, blogs, petitions and just about everything you can imagine addressing that one subject. One video in particular, which is several minutes long and shows a dressage horse whose tongue is blue and flopping out of the side of his mouth, was used to pressure the FEI into action regarding Rollkur. This horse was being schooled prior to its appearance at a major competition, and the footage looked as though a person standing at the fence took it. The video was shot in October 2009; action was taken four months later.

The public is watching, more so now than ever. Cell phones double as cameras and video cameras. Organizations and radicals are bound and determined to ring the bell and change the world, and nothing justifies those means more effectively than real evidence. The general public, most of which has no experience in the horse show world, sees what it sees and paints the whole industry in one broad stroke.

Even words can hurt.

In February, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), its lawyers and other animal rights groups were named in a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) lawsuit filed by Feld Entertainment and the Ringling Brothers circus. The case involves “testimony” given by a former barn helper who was paid $190,000 for this information regarding the alleged mistreatment of elephants.

What if your barn helper, especially if there were an axe to grind, was paid for his or her testimony? What if there was footage of a moment when you lost your cool or took the easy way out? What if the public were privy to a step-by-step online video outlining the procedure and concoction used for keeping anxious horses warmed up and sound at the same time? What if what really goes on late in the night in some warm-up pens were to hit the Internet via YouTube or a popular blog that has the capability to reach millions?

It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.