A: Evidently, at least two…
Over the weekend, we put up a post about an ad in the Washington Post about the
Humane Society of the United States’ contributions to animal shelters and people’s perceptions about what the organization does or doesn’t do. We expected it to generate some controversy, and it did.
One comment vilified the H.S.U.S. as supporting “terrorists” and, on the other side, another condemned the CCF.
Please note, we took no particular position regarding the
Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) who paid for the ad in question, we just pointed out what they said about the ad and the H.S.U.S. Nor did we suggest that the Virginia Alliance for Animal Agriculture or the VTA were advocates of horse slaughter. We have no interest in or relationship with CCF, and the VAAA is simply about keeping folks like PETA from eventually stopping the slaughter of livestock currently accepted as food. It has no position on horses, we are members for the purpose of supporting our political allies in agriculture.
That said, one comment we received was particularly angry, and now that we have had time to think about it, we may know part of the reason for the animosity – mistaken identity.
Not too long ago, I got an angry email from a friend who thought I had turned into an equine slaughter advocate based on comments she had seen on the internet. Well, Glenn Petty made the comments she angrily referenced, but, oddly enough, it was a different Glenn Petty. It was Glenn T. Petty
(pictured below with hair) who is the Executive VP of the Arabian Horse Association (AHA referenced in the comment below) out in Colorado. I’m Glenn D. Petty
(pictured further below without hair with Virginia owner, breeder and VTA member Nellie Mae Cox), and we have been getting confused for years as Glenn T. worked for many years in Raleigh, NC.
So here are those comments, with my comments following in italics.
coeurdefer has left a new comment on your post "
WASHINGTON POST AD CALLS OUT H.S.U.S.": I'm struggling to be polite, professional and intelligent in the spewtum that is self-serving, bucks first and slaughter of equines that become unprofitable, unremarkable and deductable via a really useless mouthpiece like the VTA.
(Ouch, so we know right of the bat, he/she is mad at us and the focus is slaughter.) 
Let me do it by the numbers (no odds and ain't got the time to figure out which parlor features, gives the best odds or payout.... just fact):
(1) Your blog generates little to no interest; I got it off of Paulick Report.
(With all due respect, if it is so un-interesting don’t read it.)(2) Virginia racing and breeding (what is left of it) has nothing to do with the VTA...you are "overcome by events (OBE)". The other less known "public orgs" (HBPA, VSA, etc...worth the effort) do it regardless of monies and mostly as a passion (yeah, money counts...but not like what you guys do); you guys are very inept lobbying entities.
(I think our staff, members and directors [who are volunteers] are all quite passionate about the industry, and we have lobbied the same causes as the HBPA with the same result. The VSA doesn’t typically get involved in such matters.)So let's get to the beauty of the Farm Bureau-CCF connections that you, as the mouth piece for the VTA have deemed (a) legitimate (b) valid (c) factual and, (d) my personal favorite...a supporter of equine slaughter of the very athletes that you encourage, cannoodle, tout, yoodle, and essentially encourage birth, use and ignore inhumane death issues because it's about the humans, not the horses.
(I’m no expert on any Virginia Farm Bureau-CCF connection and the post wasn’t meant to validate anything the ad said – it was pointing out a transparency issue and noting that the survey showed a perception that seems to be different from the reality while the lines between animal welfare and animal rights continue to blur. Nowhere did it mention our support of “equine slaughter,” and nowhere is there any record of the VTA being “pro equine slaughter.” We are big advocates of Thoroughbred rescue and reuse.)
You folks are a hoot!!! CCF is an industry/corporate sponsored joke (check out the tabacco [sic] linkage...but you know that right? I don't think your readers do.). Farm Bureau is basically a freaking insurance company with a ton of membership not officially voting and thereby peddling corporate ag issues without true voting as fact and essential....AVMA, AHA AQHA, AAEP have never taken a poll about horse slaughter for human consumption AND reported the results, especially verified at vote.
(I’ll let the other organizations in question answer that one.)You support (feature?) CCF because they bash HSUS? BTW, just exactly where has it become required that the HSUS support state mandated pounds and shelters????? What has CCF given? What has any animal use biz or org done? Be careful of what band wagon you attach yourself to.
(We ran the piece as an FYI about perception and reality in the animal rights and animal welfare debate, not out of support for CCF. I wouldn’t say we “featured it” either as it was the fifth of nine posts that day. Nor did we say the HSUS was mandated to support shelters, but if one studies what has happened over the past five years, it does appear that HSUS is happy to stand pat with the misconception that they do support local shelters to help their fundraising. Do we want Wall Street, big business and our government to be transparent, but not animal rights advocates?)And honestly, no one posts. You put this less than humane equine post up that essentially supports beating the snot out of horses that are either stolen, slow, owned by a**-hats [edited], injured and you fiddle with a paid ad by pieces of bought trash.
(Here’s where I got lost. The post is about transparency and perception. The notion that the posts “essentially supports beating the snot out of horses” is absurd.)
Thanks for reminding me not to renew my VTA membership (you trolls wouldn't even help folks access hay). Hint...yeah some powerful folks want what you posted. There are a ton with big bucks that don't care one booger what you think about Virginia Racing....they race, breed and humanely handle their charges without the likes of you (and you don't race VTA).
(Well, we are sorry you feel that way, and actually at least half of our members do race as well as breed horses, and our staff is happy to help anybody find hay or anything else, just call.)
Moderate Petty...moderate. Enjoy as long as it lasts because you and your org do absolutely NOTHING for the folks that live every day racing with or without your wisdom. Stick with CCF and FB... you'll keep raking in quality folks.
I've been following (and joined for a couple of years) the so called VTA for 8 years. I want my money back...but have a jolly time praying at the next CD stakes races steppin' and fetchin' with the politicians that can't figure where the windows are or what a trifecta is....but you and the other race orgs don't help Virginians figure that out either.
(First off, we would be happy to refund you your former dues as you are clearly unhappy with our performance. Just contact the office. Secondly, if you can figure out how to keep the Speaker of the House from killing EVERY PIECE of legislation we have brought forward to help breeders, owners, trainers and everybody else involved in the industry, we would all love to hear your solution.)And now I'm going to get angry. That the VTA supports the FB, VHC, AQHA, AHC, AAEP, AVMA, CCF just sends me to the point of activism.
(Hey, don’t get mad, get the facts. Yes, we are members of the Farm Bureau (FB), the Virginia Horse Council (VHC) and the American Horse Council (AHC). Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t. But, don’t accuse the organization or its staff of having relationships that don’t exist or supporting causes or organizations we clearly don’t support. The VTA has no relationship whatsoever with the CCF nor have we ever supported them in any way. In addition, the VTA has no relationship with the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) or the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) or the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA). None, save the occasional professional courtesy. Where do you get your information?) I suspect these orgs also support BP, the Department of Interior and USDA because, well they just know what is right for the world...just like VTA.
(Ouch, the closing shot was every bit as unkind as the opening one!)
(Then a minute later, there was this…)
coeurdefer has left a new comment on your post "
WASHINGTON POST AD CALLS OUT H.S.U.S.": Your comment has been saved and will be visible after blog owner approval...
(When you leave a comment on this blog, you get this message. It means that the blog administrator has to “publish” the comment – it doesn’t immediately go up on the blog. This is done primarily as a spam protection device since the blog receives lots of comments about cheap prescription drugs, sports betting, unclaimed lottery winnings, etc. The comment notification email reached me Sunday morning when I was with my family. We were out most of the day [OK, I admit, I wanted a CD of the re-release of the Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street, and I wouldn’t settle for an iTunes copy. I wanted something I could hold in my hands. Call me old fashioned!] When we returned home, I mowed some grass and then got immersed in the 4.5 hour conclusion of the LOST television series – sorry, but I’ve been a devout follower all six seasons. Subsequently, I ignored my email for the entire day, and thus did not publish the comment until some 12 hours later.)
Another HOOT!!!!!!!The self-appointed king(s) will allow posts or NOT.
(See above, we post all comments that aren’t spam.)And you wonder why people don't post???? Hmmm. I apologize. One must feign journalism and relevance.
(Final note: So what is the point of publishing this? I’d say that clearly the writer has some misconceptions about who we are and what we do. Of course, he or she is entitled to an opinion and we are happy to publish it as we have always done. We welcome debate on all subjects and have written about this on other occasions. As always, this is my opinion and not that of the organization, the members or the directors. – Glenn Petty, the Virginia one.)
Memorial Day may be a memorable day for thoroughbred breeders in the Old Dominion as two Virginia-breds captured Grade I stakes races on both coasts. One Virginia-bred winner was a virtual guarantee when Quality Road won the Met Mile at Belmont Park.
