Hunters & Jumpers

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net

Kathy Mayeda said:

> Endurance
> rides are judged the same whether or not they are FEI or AERC > because whoever
> gets over the finish line first is first in competition.  
> Veterinary criteria may differ
> some for BC and/or completion, but the goal is the same.  

Go to any AERC endurance ride (not one that is dual sanctioned 
the FEI, just a regular ride), and ask how many of the people
there have the goal of getting over the finish line first.

Betcha that it is significantly less than a third.

Go to Tevis and ask the same question. 

Betcha that it is less than 10%.

No, the goals are not the same.  I have never gone to an endurance
ride with the goal of crossing the finish line first, and I doubt
that I ever will.  If I ever crossed the finish line first at
an endurance ride, it would be nothing more than a happy 
accident (like everybody else in front of me got off course),
not because it was a goal.

You got it right the first time.  The goals aren't the same
in hunters as they are in jumpers.  And for most of the AERC 
endurance riding population, their goals aren't the same as for
those who ride FEI.

And these differences are codified in the rules.  The AERC rules 
state that rides must provide a completion award and have 
available an award for Best Condition (although the vets are 
allowed to decide that no horse earned it).  And if you look at
the list of awards provided by the AERC itself, only a small
portion of them even tangentially (because of the awarding of
bonus points for top ten completions and the fact that a horse
must finish in the top ten to stand for BC) have anything to do
with which horse crossed the finish line first (although many of
the individual rides award that).

The FEI rules state that first place is awarded to the horse
and rider team that complete each of the segments in the least
amount of time.  BC is not an FEI award at all (though most
individual FEI rides award it), nor is completion (though most
individual FEI rides award that too).

The rules needed to govern a sport where all the participants
have the goal of crossing the finish line first are not the same
as the rules needed to govern a sport where most of the 
participants have the goal of just crossing the finish line...as many
times as possible and are only tangentally interested in crossing
it first (if at all).

Please note that I do not say better, or worse, or higher or
lower, or good or bad.  I make no value judgements at all.

The goals of most of the participants are DIFFERENT...and so are
the rules.

Very much like in hunters and jumpers.

And yes, the rules about the differences in appointments (for 
those of you not familiar with the show world, "appointments"
are the things that the horse and/or rider wear) are of little
consequence.

kat
Orange County, Calif.