Re: RC: NSC - I was there

["Nancy Mitts" <mitts_n@hotmail.com>]

Susie,

First I'd like to congratulate everyone who finished the RC Ride this year.
Second, I agree with Susie (quoted below) 100% about the problem with the 
last 10 years "championships" changing too much. Riders and management alike 
just decided it was too much trouble to figure out from year to year. I also 
liked the series, but also see it is not supported by the majority.
Someone else brought up the idea about using placement in the regional 
standings as qualification for the NC Ride. I think that might be a good 
thing. It would demonstrate the rider's ability to keep a horse going for a 
whole season as opposed to just a one shot ride. Monte suggested the year 
end standings would qualify for the National Championship ride held the 
following year, as early in the season as practical. People would know 
"where & when" far enough in advance to prepare to go.
But it is very important to get this "tweaking" DONE, and then LEAVE IT 
ALONE!

>From: "Michael or Susie Jones" <mjones@springercoop.com>
>To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
>Subject: RC:  NSC - I was there
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 19:23:17 -0600
>
>
>Well, I WAS at Fort Stanton last week.  And I've been involved in a number
>of National Series Championships / Series National Championships / whatever
>you want to call AERC's attempts to come up with some sort of "overall" 
>type
>of national championship over the last 10 years.  As I see it, the main
>problem has been that AERC has never "stuck" with an idea long enough to
>allow it to develop.  My personal preference would be a series of 3 rides 
>of
>50 and/or 100 miles done over a 3 month period at different locations to
>decide upon a National Champion in each weight division (i.e., a person
>could become the LW National Champion by doing well in a 50 and a couple of
>100s or some other combination of the two).  However, the financial/time
>obligations of this sort of competition are beyond the reach of much of the
>AERC membership.  So the idea of one "head-to-head" competition seems to be
>the most popular with the majority of AERC's members.  I appreciate that
>AERC is trying it's best to respond to it's members desires.  
>Unfortunately,
>every year the members seem to come up with a slightly different set of
>expectations & AERC seems to always be struggling to "catch up".
>
>At the moment, I don't feel the qualifications are such that "only
>championship material" is allowed entry to the ride (I certainly don't feel
>that my horse & I were 'championship material' when we started the ride  -
>although I also feel I was smart enough to enter a ride of this caliber &
>not embarress myself or my horse).  However, my understanding is that as 
>the
>ride grows, the requirements will become more strict: I believe this is a
>good strategy for encouraging participation and eventually refining the 
>ride
>to be a true championship ride.

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