One of our target issues is banning abusive and deathly charreada events such as horse tripping in as many states as we have volunteers to lay the groundwork for accomplishing it.

The first challenge we usually face is from certain portions of the Mexican community who say we are attacking them and their culture.

This is the same argument made when banning fox hunting in the UK, bullfighting in Spain, dog fighting and rodeo events in the US, horse fighting in the Philippines, and so forth.

Fund for Horses volunteers took an informal poll on the streets of downtown Houston, Texas in September, 2009.

Of the 416 people of Mexican descent they spoke with:

• 82% were against the charreada, said they would not take their children, feel it gives their culture a bad name, and support a ban of it.

• 16% had heard of charreadas, but had never attended one, and did not know what type of events were involved.

• The remaining 4% had heard of it, but did not have an opinion.

Yes, this was an unofficial poll, but we feel it gives a slight indication of how Mexican people feel about charreadas.  We were quite surprised by the results.

Charreadas are being held, some of which involve horse tripping, even in States where it is illegal. Getting it banned is only the first step. We must be vigilant, employ investigators to gather eyewitness accounts, and even better, video evidence. Then we must put pressure on law enforcement officers to prosecute the offenders.

This is challenging, and in some cases, dangerous.

One of our investigators was spotted when trying to photograph horse tripping at an isolated location just outside of Houston. He was assaulted, chased to his vehicle, and followed for about 10 miles, with his pursuers trying to run him off the road.

He came away unscathed, and even more determined to help, but we are anxious for him, seeing what he and anyone else trying to expose these crimes is up against.

Target states for banning horse tripping are Arizona and Washington.

Target states for continuing investigation are Texas and California. Those are big states to cover, and we have our work cut out for us.

 Posted Dec. 2, 2009