Re: RC: Returning Junior Rider

[Rick Crites <rdcrites@altavista.com>]

My daughter left the Hunter ring to ride endurance with me.  When she got real active I backed off from riding to let her ride because we could not afford to handle to riders financially besides she needed a pit crew.  

At 13 she had to quit riding because I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo surgery and treatment.  She had begged, and begged to go to endurance rides.  She even wanted to just go and pit crew for someone.  I was not physically capable of taking her, we ended up selling most of our horses and leasing the rest.  

I, now, am feeling like traveling some and she is getting the opportunity to go to some rides and ride a horse for Eddie Edwards this fall.  She is, also, purchasing (for the first time with money she earned) a 4 year old Arabian off of Roscoe and Glenda Weeks to break and start conditioning to start next year.  She is thrilled at the thought of getting to ride endurance again but she is no longer a Junior.

I imagine some of you remember my daughter Amanda and her Welsh pony, Ben.  They were on the cover of Endurance News once when she was riding as a Junior.

Nan

 

On Thu, 08 June 2000, "guest@endurance.net" wrote:

> 
> Heather Watson watson1@gv.net
> >>This is one 
> of the few sports in the world where age does not matter.  Also, sometimes 
> the older folks can better afford the rides, which are not cheap.  In the 
> case of most of the juniors I have had, a lot of them had parents that did 
> not ride at all.  However, most of them are still riding.......maryben>>
> 
> I agree with Maryben.  I was a Junior rider when my mom got into
> endurance riding with Jane Cloud and Linda Rogers back in the
> mid-eighties.  I was about 15-16 years old, and only saw one
> other junior rider (Matt Medeiros) during about five or six
> rides I attended.  I always thought that was strange because
> I was used to just the opposite in the showing world--all kids
> and no parents! Jane, Linda, and Matt all still ride endurance
> regularly, too.
> 
> The reason I left endurance was purely financial.  It was hard to get to
> all of the places to condition, I couldn't afford a horse, 
> a saddle, a vet bill, the shoing, etc., especially when making
> minimum wage and working part time in college.
> 
> I returned to endurance in 1998, thanks to the help and
> mentorship of Jessica Tuteur, who offered to let me ride her
> horses until I could re-accumulate all of the must-have items
> needed for successful endurance.  I'm back because endurance
> riding is such a fun sport, my horse loves the trails, and 
> I really enjoy the GOOD people I find associated with AERC. I
> did not find the same to be true when I was on the big show
> circuit (also as a Junior).
> 
> I think that if they are hooked, they will come back. I know what did it for me was the big deal that was made out of completing (not winning), the big smiles I got, and feeling like I'd survived...
> 
> I don't know if there is really any incentive AERC can give
> to its Junior riders that it is not already giving. I thought
> the coverage given in EN recently to some of the Juniors 
> was pretty cool.  Some of them have VERY impressive rider histories already. 
> 
> I also think that the attention some ride managers give to the
> juniors is great.  I've been to a couple of rides where some
> of the best awards go to them. Positive experiences are
> what keep people involved--the more the better--and for all ages.
> 
> 
> 
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