RE: Endurance in the Olympics

[wsabg@t-online.de (Wolfgang Schwingenheuer)]

> Wofgang:
>
> I beg to differ with ya here.  FEI rules are quite different from
> AERC rules.
>  I understand quite well that FEI is king when it comes to International
> Equestrian sports.  And, even though, when I mention FEI, I am
> speaking of
> the endurance aspect (I do believe they separate the different types of
> events within FEI), I understand that FEI means "show ring."
> This is a big problem with me.

You don't understand! FEI doesn't mean "show ring". FEI means "International
Equestrian Sport at Top Level". Show ring in most cases isn't Top Level,
it's just a Show, Glamour, Bluff.

> Wolfgang, where you live, it seems to me, y'all don't have much choice.
> There is no German, Belgium, French, or other separate set of rules to
> follow; all of you ride under FEI, and I can understand you
> defending it as you do.

Again you are wrong! Inform yourself better before yakking around. We do
have our national rules, 99% of our rides are held under those rules. The
Belgium and French, the Netherlands, Danish etc., they all (or most of them)
do have their national rules and organisations. If I ride a national 100
mile ride, it could be that the post-ride inspection of my horse is on the
previous day, for example. If this is the right choice, could be (and was)
discussed. If I don't like this, I don't ride that ride and look for a FEI
ride instead.


> I really do think there are huge differences between FEI and
> AERC.  They have
> all been mentioned here on ridecamp before.  The fact is the
> majority of AERC
> members do not want FEI rules taking over.

So sure about that???

> I'm purty sure of that; most of
> us don't want to dress up like we're going to the prom to get on
> our horse and ride 50 or 100 miles.

No one says you have to dress up. What is required is a proper dress, this
doesn't mean you have to look like one of the show-jumpers. But this also
means some clean dress, not dribbled by someone who saw naked sunbathers on
the trail. But you are not pulled if your dress gets dirty, don't worry.

> My contention is, once Olympic Fever hits, things will change.  American
> riders will want to convert to FEI so they get a shot at riding
> for the Gold
> in the Olympics.  And when that happens, all the rides I go to now, will
> start becoming FEI sanctioned.

You can't convert to FEI! It not possible for an individual to become member
of the FEI. In fact you have to member of your national federation or
conference or whatever you have in your country. And again don't worry: The
numerb of FEI sanctioned rides will not increase that drastically. As I
wrote above, nearly 99% of our national rides are non-FEI. Let it become
90%, maybe 80%. This is still (and will be in the USA) a big number of rides
one can go.

> And why?  Because some Sheik in UAE deems it to be this way.  He has the
> funds and the will power to make it happen; his dream of riding
> for that Gold
> medal will become fulfilled.  And the rest of us just have to
> deal with it.

No one forces you to anything. Ride your AERC rides and you are fine. But
let others (americans, too) the freedom to choose whether they like to cut a
piece of that cake. I enjoy the hospitality of H.H. General Sheik Mohammed,
I did it two times now. And I really prefer dancing with him and all the
members of the worldwide endurance family, the luxury of being invited to
visit a country for free instead of listening to drunken old man with the
breath of too much beer.

> Someday, Wolfgang, I will let this go.  Someday, I will, most
> likely, throw
> in the towel and just say, "I give up."  Till then, I'd like the
> freedom to
> speak what's on my mind concerning all this.  I hope you can
> tolerate me for
> a little while longer. It seems I don't have much time left; it's gonna
> happen and I'm either going to have to adjust to it or get out.

You got all the freedom you like. But don't try to force others to agree
with you, don't put words in their mouth they won't speak. Speak for
yourself and you are fine. But you are not the national voice of AERC,
right?

> cya,
> Howard (believe it or not, this Florida redneck did spend 3 years
> in Germany;
> Ramstein Air Base, courtesy of US Air Force.  Too bad I wasn't doing
> endurance back then)

The only memory I have on Ramstein was that terrible accident where a lot of
people lost their lives.

Wolfgang

P.S.: It' very interesting to see the numbers of emails I got as a reply to
my first posting. All of them from America, all of them like "well said,
thank you"...
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