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OFF COURSE: Detours, DEI, and Duplicity at U.S. Equestrian Federation
When Judy Berkley learned the U.S. Equestrian Federation was adopting the controversial social program called DEI, she was alarmed at the incompatible merger. Berkley was a former daily columnist at the Tribune newspaper in the racially-charged city of Oakland, California, but she was also a longtime horse-owner and freelance writer for the horse industry. Of all sports, equestrian activities were least needful of mandated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The principal barrier to participation in the equine lifestyle is, and always has been, expendable income.
However, the DEI proponents within USEF asserted race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity socio-economic, and other marginalizing factors were restricting participation in equine sports. Berkley understood what that Other people, who were deemed privileged, would have to enable the underprivileged. It was the next step in the Left’s relentless pursuit of Socialism, now brought to the horse world.
As Berkley began tracking the changes demanded by DEI, she found troubling suppression of Constitutional protections, speech codes, quotas, set asides, indoctrination, and the promotion of Black, as well as, LGBTQ+ agendas.
At a time when horse ownership was imperiled by many mitigating factors, like loss of land for recreational riding and for essential agricultural products, declining numbers of veterinarians, and the onslaught of animal rights’ extremists, USEF officials were seemingly too fearful of being labeled racist or homophobic to stand up for the preservation and practices of equine sports---or, worse yet, the horse in America.
The detour of USEF from its primary mission as a rules and regulation organization, was worsened by a shameful pursuit of more and more financial gains in equine sports. In that pursuit, USEF ran roughshod over its membership, failed to resolve alleged rampant pedophilia in its ranks, engaged in cronyism, and wallowed in the uncharted waters of social justice.
However, the DEI proponents within USEF asserted race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity socio-economic, and other marginalizing factors were restricting participation in equine sports. Berkley understood what that Other people, who were deemed privileged, would have to enable the underprivileged. It was the next step in the Left’s relentless pursuit of Socialism, now brought to the horse world.
As Berkley began tracking the changes demanded by DEI, she found troubling suppression of Constitutional protections, speech codes, quotas, set asides, indoctrination, and the promotion of Black, as well as, LGBTQ+ agendas.
At a time when horse ownership was imperiled by many mitigating factors, like loss of land for recreational riding and for essential agricultural products, declining numbers of veterinarians, and the onslaught of animal rights’ extremists, USEF officials were seemingly too fearful of being labeled racist or homophobic to stand up for the preservation and practices of equine sports---or, worse yet, the horse in America.
The detour of USEF from its primary mission as a rules and regulation organization, was worsened by a shameful pursuit of more and more financial gains in equine sports. In that pursuit, USEF ran roughshod over its membership, failed to resolve alleged rampant pedophilia in its ranks, engaged in cronyism, and wallowed in the uncharted waters of social justice.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2025
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