As for the Berlin Wall, I agree with Paula that Rob has a valid point, and as she observed, some try to perceive and deal with reality and others set about creating their own. I guess in that way I am like the former, as is Paula. Perhaps that is something lawyers have in common with each other! In a private post to some group members, Rob Noel pointed out the obvious, that the emperor has no clothes, in this case that there has not been one person in this group that has stated an opinion on the matter that has not come out in favor of opening the books.

Further, I will add that every person that I have ever talked to, and there have been many (my husband calls our home "Horse Central"), outside of Kentucky and many in Kentucky, about the fragmentation of the small gene pool into three even smaller segments, for primarily political reasons, not due to any great differences among the horses in KMHSA, MPHA, and RMHA, to a person has agreed that this should be undone and the horses all put back together as one breeding group. The trouble is, with all due respect to our Kentucky breathren on this post list, is that the reasons that led to the split of the gene pools into the three registries have certainly not been forgotten in Kentucky, and in fact are expounded upon at length by some who continue in positions of authority in RMHA and who have a vested interest in seeing that the registries do not merge, work together or even so much as get along cordially. What I have called for some time "the party line" of RMHA, that the only good Mountain Horse is one with the RMHA label, that only the RMH is a breed and the other two are not, that KMSHA is nothing more than a grade horse registry, gets picked up and parroted as if true. (And if someone wants me to expound on the reasons why I say that those statements are not true, go ahead, make my day, just ask me!)

Those who would like to put those old animosities in the past have never had a constituent base to rely upon to push that position. The only people they get to hear from are those very same people in the geographic area of Kentucky who haven't forgotten those events, and those who have a vested interest in keeping the associations separate. People who dare to suggest that this is not good for the horses have in the past been publically attacked, humiliated, villified and demonized with whatever half truths can be thrown at them. That is what is so diabolically clever about the way the attacks are made, that there is always a kernal of truth in them, to make the listeners believe that the rest of the statements made are also true. Those who have repeatedly employed these tactics have in the past been in control of the membership lists, so that missiles can be sent out by them at strategic times to get the person busy defending themselves, and throw up a smoke screen that covers whatever the original issue was in the first place, so that by the time it clears, everyone has forgotten the original issue. The most recent example of this was ilustrated by the public apology by Ms Swan to Mr. Derickson, and vice versa, because for once she about got herself impeached.

Now, the equation has changed, due to the advent of electronic communication that underlies the creation of this group. I have a feeling that the RMHA Board and Officers were probably astonished at the speed at which this group spontaneously combusted into existance, the number of people now in it, and joining almost daily, and I think that those that are monitoring the posts of this group are also astonished at the depth of feeling and the depth of intelligence displayed here. This group is by no means a bunch of unsuspecting sheep being led by a few malcontents, the people in it have independently and thoughtfully come to the conclusion that the books need to be opened, and even though Paula and I have both tried to shove that issue aside in the name of reality, I think that the group may indeed create its own reality on that point. Further, the very existance of this group creates a verifiable constituent base for those that have felt that they would be hounded out of their positions as officers or Board members if they tried to suggest or implement actions that would lead to cooperation of the groups. And now people, we have a membership list of our own if we choose to use it. Karrol has completely entered the list I gave her that I had obtained, legitimately I might add, at a time when any RMHA member could request and obtain a copy of that list, that was four years old, and has been adding the people who have joined since then, from taking the names and cities of the new members from my back issues of NGN. I am not sure if she is completely done, but I believe she is close to being done if not done.

Paula is correct that we need new people to run for the Board. Kathy has already volunteered. Others I can think of are Paula, Rob and/or Gaila Noel, Jennifer Bush, Desinai Sheilds, Gary and/or Julie Niedert, and Al Prewitt. He's not afraid of the devil himself, after all, he was one of the founders of MPHA. He owns probably more Mountain Horses than any other individual, of all three registries and all of the bloodlines, 170 of them, give or take a dozen or so on any given day. However, we should also keep in mind that there are people of good will that are already officers and Board members, Ron Cvetican who is on this post list, and I believe, Jake Rose, Grace Stuckert, who I have known for years, and Steve Autry, who is on the Genetics Committee. Others that have been mentioned to me are Terri Champney, Jerry LaFayette, Phyllis McGuire. We need to send strong messages to those people that we appreciate their efforts, and that we support them, and will urge others we know to support them. By doing so, we will bolster their courage to do what they know is right, but that they may have felt could not be accomplished in light of the apparent political "reality". We can help them create the new reality that Rob and Donna Jones are correct needs to be created.

Annette

-- Annette L. Gerhardt (gerhardt@sinosa.com), January 03, 1998