Re: Response to Biltmore Bruise by L.Salas

["Bill and Jan Stevens" <circlebarranch@mcn.net>]

>One of the many things that bothers me about FEI is the costs.  You have to
show up a day early (Thursday), pay almost twice the fee you would if it
wasn't FEI (please correct me if I'm wrong about this),<

The extra fees are included to cover the costs of extra vets, bringing in
officials that are required, additional costs to FEI and AHSA for
sanctioning.  As for coming early, that is a management decision...since the
riders doing the FEI portion are required to go through a few more hoops to
participate, it makes more sense to have them their early to get the
"required" paperwork, vet checks/inspections, & rider inspections taken care
of before the rest of the riders show up.

 >put your horse in a specific location with certain sized measurements for
his corral, segregate
yourself from the non FEI riders,<

As required by FEI-two fold...#1-everything is "fair" for everyone...same
space allowed etc...it was the same at Pan Am in Canada-Another thing to
consider is the limitations on space at various rides....#2-keeping horses
quaranteened from other horses.  Unfortunately this really doesn't make
sense, especially with endurance since everyone is drinking out of the same
tank out on trail...Might make more sense elsewhere in the world or other
discipline.  As for segregating...I doubt that they told the FEI riders to
"stay away from everyone else"...

> wear some sort of uniform<

Simply put, a shirt with a collar, a helmet (which maybe required some day
for all of us), boots with heels or safelty stirrups...Helmet and the shoes
are for safety....

> get a passport for your horse<

A Passport was NOT required for this ride or for any other ride that is FEI
this year-except for the Pan Ams & international rides....It's basically a
glorified Brand Inspection with a section for the vets to fill out about the
shots that your horse has received.  If you want to do international
competition, then you need to get a passport for your horse.

> The list seems endless to me, and not very rider friendly.  And how
necessary is it all?  Why does International competition have to be this
way? <

This isn't for everyone...riders don't have to ride FEI, but for those that
do, they have to play by the rules.  As a ride manager of an upcoming
FEI/AERC/IAHA event I'm hoping that things will go smoothly....Hoping that
we can combine the FEI/AERC rules to make them fair for everyone...Basically
it would impossible to compeletely separate the riders.  Heck, it's
sometimes difficult to separate the finish of the LD and the 50/100 riders
with the different criteria for finish between them.

I'm rather new to endurance-been doing it for 7 years now....Travelled to
international events, helped crew, managed 4 years worth of rides....I
wasn't around endurance when AERC started, but I'm sure that there was
plenty of complaining when the "rules" were written...And I have certainly
seen enough complaining going on whenever the BOD is contemplating a rule
change....

Jan Stevens
Fort Howes Endurance Rides, Inc.
June 9, 2001
25/50/100
50-Dual Sanctioned with IAHA Region 6 Championship
100-Dual Sanctioned with FEI/AHSA CEI-A
Coming 2002-IAHA National Championship