Thoughts on Cooper and Chummin

Filed Under: Ridiculous Commentary
My take: as all of you know, Eventing Nation has tried to lead the charge to raise money for Cooper’s vet bills, and we are proud of these efforts.  Eventing Nation walks like we talk, and we have donated every penny that we have earned so far (it’s not much, but every bit helps) to Cooper’s fund.  You can donate at Jennie’s site.  In times of need, the Eventing community is strong, kind, and loyal, and we protect our own.  
However, I wish that we had the opportunity to do the same for Lisa Peecook’s horse Chummin, who died while competing at Galway.  To my knowledge, no one has established a memorial fund for Chummin, and if such a fund exists, no one is publicizing it.  Frankly, this disturbs me.  I am concerned about the implications of not showing the same strong support for Chummin that Cooper has rightfully received.  Do we as fans not care as much about Chummin because he is not a superstar like Cooper, does the media not cover Chummin’s death as much as Cooper’s surgeries because they think fans don’t care as much?  I can tell you that Eventing Nation published both the Cooper and Chummin stories hours before anyone else, and the Cooper news gave us a much higher bump in traffic.    
One thing I try to avoid is criticizing something without presenting a good alternative, so I now present what I think should happen.  The USEA, or USEF, or both should automatically establish a donation fund whenever a horse is seriously injured or killed at a competition.  This is well within the scope and ability of each organization.  We can’t force people to give money to each fund equally, nor should we, but we can make sure that each troubled horse is treated equally in that each has a fund established for its benefit.  
Please understand: my point is not that Cooper has received any undue support, far from it.  There are some extremely wealthy fans of Eventing who sit in very large houses and complain about the USA’s poor support of young talent, but who have not yet given a cent to support Cooper.  I just feel that we should be aware of a double standard if it does exits, and try to give each injured horse equality of opportunity to receive donations.  Any thoughts?  Please leave your take.
Update: Please check out the comments by clicking on the title and scrolling down.
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