Re: RC: Re: Difference between LD and other distances

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/13/2000 1:25:26 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
sbrown@wamedes.com writes:

<< When I see the listings in the way they are separated now, what I see is
 **ENDURANCE** (The Only True Distance Riding) and "limited distance" (the
 mousey s*** that isn't even worth counting as "miles actually ridden" in an
 AERC ride...hell, "any horse can do it"...we just want your money and we'll
 give you some stuff, so be quiet and talk to us again when you can really
 ride long stuff like the rest of us ENDURANCE riders...and, in the
 meantime, thank us for giving you the privilege to ride on the trails with
 us. <g>) >>

I have a new perspective on mileage after last weekend........
I entered a 50 miler, and due to an unfortunate turn of events (that is, if I 
HAD turned instead of going straight ahead, I wouldn't have missed the proper 
trail) I ended up at the finish line, without having gone through the vet 
check with the one-hour hold.  In the end of it all, I did 38 miles instead 
of 50.  Now here is the perspective......my horse DID that 38 miles, how come 
he doesn't get credit for it??  Because he did not complete the event he was 
entered in, that's why.

LD was, at one time, not even a part of the endurance riding program. At some 
point, it seemed like a good thing to add on, because it offered a chance to 
introduce riders and horses to a sampling of that was yet to come....a full 
50 mile (minimum) event, that being the DEFINITION, in the bylaws of AERC, of 
an endurance ride.  I think LDs are a wonderful tool.  My young horse went 
through three LDs before I was ready to take him into a 50 (and if I hadn't 
made a grievous error in navigation, we would have finished it).  Then at 
some point, LD riders became angry.  The rest of the endurance world was 
"treating them as second class citizens".  They wanted recognition, so AERC 
gave them their own division, recognition, awards, BCs, etc.  Now they're 
angry again.  Now they want lifetime mileage, to be blended with the mileage 
of (defined in bylaws, remember) endurance rides.  Somewhere, a line must be 
drawn, or sooner or later, we will all be doing pleasure rides and receiving 
credit for them.  What about lifetime mileage for conditioning rides at home? 
 The horse did the mileage, why not receive credit for it?  Because of the 
bylaws definition of "an endurance ride", I should think.  There are many 
structures in our society that define limits, and we need to abide by them.  
We have a division for LD rides; let's just live within its boundaries.
So couldn't we stop arguing this point ad nauseum, please?

Barbara