http://useventing.com/blog/?p=20025
I guess I get this lady's point, namely that OTTB is supposed to be an adjective, but 99.9% of the equestrian world uses it as a noun. Apparently she has an issue with that. What I still don't understand is why. Is she an English teacher in addition to being a highly successful Thoroughbreds-Who-Used-To-Run-Races re-trainer? Does she think we are defaming the great name of the Thoroughbred breed by using this term? If it's the former (which I highly doubt), well, I'll admit to being a bit of a grammar Nazi myself, and bad writing and spelling irritate me no end, but really... If we all went around correcting people's speech we would not be terribly popular (and we'd go berserk after five minutes in a Walmart).
If it's the latter, I really don't understand. Isn't the word Thoroughbred actually part of the term OTTB, with the letters T and B standing in for the breed? I believe that is *cough* another commonly-used acronym. It's not like we're dismissing the fact that they are a breed. Furthermore, I, for one, am careful to use the word Thoroughbred to describe a horse of that breed which is currently running on the track, or one that never ran on the track. I only use OTTB when the horse has had some kind of racing career. It can now be a pasture potato or out competing in 4**** events (yay, Courageous Comet!*), but by golly if it is an "Off (the) Track Thoroughbred" it's okay to call it that. I think so, anyway. And I can't wait to own one!
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| Love, love, love this logo. I will immediately purchase an embroidered saddle pad from http://www.ottbdesigns.com/ just as soon as I need one! |
Good news from Eventing Nation:
"When asked about having another great grey horse, Becky (Holder) mentioned that she hopes that Comet's time off is only temporary. Becky said that Comet has had a "no setback" recovery and he might be out at a few dressage shows this autumn and that she hopes he will start back eventing in the spring. We are all keeping our fingers crossed to see Becky with two great greys next spring."
That article left me scratching my head. She was walking around with two potential horse buyers and she is so offended by the term OTTB that she gets all caught up in correcting them?
ReplyDeleteI use 'Thoroughbred' or 'off-track Thoroughbred' when I am talking to someone but I use OTTB a lot in writing, it's a very handy abbreviation.
If Thoroughbred is a noun, wouldn't off-track Thoroughbred be a noun with an adjective in front of it? I fail to see the issue.
ReplyDeleteThat thought occurred to me too, Barbara! Really, way to discourage people when the horses need all the homes they can get. Of course there were *crickets chirping,* those folks must have thought she was nuts.
ReplyDeleteJenn, you are absolutely correct. The whole thing is just goofy. I'm gonna go look and see if COTHers have picked up on this - should be interesting!
Hello! Thank you for posting your counter argument. I posted one as well on our OTTB Designs facebook page and it rallied quite a passionate response from our fans! And thanks for liking our logo :)
ReplyDeleteHi, Caitlin and thanks for visiting! I didn't know you guys have a FB page but I will sign right up to Like it. I did try to find something on COTH, in between watching my baseball team (ye gads, WHAT a game), but there didn't seem to be anything yet as of last night. Will check again today. There are a whole lot of OTTB fans there so I can't imagine that it will be missed. :-)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/#!/OTTBDesigns
ReplyDeleteFound it, thanks! I won't post a link myself to my blog (I try to keep RiderWriter separated from my real name, there are times when anonymity is useful), but feel free to do so in the Comments, if you like. That way your fans can link to the original article, too.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find amazing in the Eventing World piece is that she had never heard anyone use the term OTTB before! Really? She's really commenting on her own ignorance - given a lifetime of living with racing thoroughbreds, to not know what OTTB refers to makes me think she is not very conscious of all the rescue work being done, where the term is COMMONLY used, as we know! I hope she becomes aware of the track-to-slaughterhouse pipeline and learns more about all the amazing things OTTBs pulled from that fate can do, and how much those of us who own them, love them!
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