Blowzabella

The Traveller Culture is one 'we' would like to be associated with as it is compatible with our ideas about traditions and minority cultures, therefore we are reluctant to chastise it without further investigation.

Your original post and the title of the thread held the seeds of the idea that, on the basis of this one incident, the whole existence of the Appleby Horse Fair was open to question. Others took this theme further and laid the blame squarely on the whole Traveller community and stated that "they" should have their fair taken away from them.
A number of people, including myself, pointed out that National Hunt racing and three day eventing had far higher horse fatalities to the point that they are considered routine and an inevitable part of the "sport". Those attacking Appleby seemed singularly unimpressed by this. Grimmy in particular seems to think that these deaths are less blameworthy because they are accidents rather than the result of deliberate or reckless behaviour; a view that I find bizarre. Deliberately sending a horse round a course that has killed many horses before sounds very reckless to me.
It is evident from the accounts that the behaviour of this young man did not meet with the approval of the other festival goers and he was lucky to escape a beating (if indeed he did). The carnage at events like Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National, on the other hand, seem to be accepted as normal.
This can only lead to the suspicion that the critics of Appleby are less interested in the welfare of horses than they are in the opportunity to attack the Traveller community.

Chastising an entire community for the behaviour of one individual is racism.