Nature of American Endurance

[DVeritas@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/30/01 1:27:36 PM Mountain Daylight Time, hwb67@msn.com 
writes:


> .  Nothing disturbs me more than the FEI world rankings of endurance riders 
> (guess who runs that) 


Hi Howard,
    Long time no talk to.
    Howard, if "northing disturbs" you "more than the FEI world rankings of 
endurance riders...." consider yourself a Lucky (with a capital "L") man.
    Just how the FEI world rankings of endurance riders affects you (or me) 
is beyond me.  I am simple that way.  
    If I was a "World Beater", or my horse was a "World Beater", eventually 
EVENTUALLY, the WORLD would know it.  (The "world" has a way of figurin' that 
sort of thing out...)
    But I'm not, he's not and it's all I can do to figure out how to get to 
the next endurance ride (and it's only 2 1/2 hours away from me) with all 
that affects me in my "real life".
    Please don't stress too much over the nebulous nature of 
Endurance-Politic.  
    You and I have folks who represent us and our beliefs in this sport.  And 
I know they know how we feel about "The American Nature of Endurance Riding". 
 
    After an endurance ride/race, we load our horses into our trailers and we 
take them home with us.  They are vital, vibrant parts of our lives, our 
families.  We live with what we do to them in order to do this sport.  THEN, 
we find a way to pay the bills.
    For the most part, we ride with compassion for the horse, compassion for 
the land through which we ride, compassion for our fellow competitors and 
compassion for those of us who try and who, from time to time for whatever 
reason, don't "get it done".
    And, we pay the gas prices, whatever they are, to do it.
    It's more serious than being an independent American....it's being a 
horseman who "does" endurance.  It's "horsepeople" not "people with horses" 
who protect this sport.
    So, when I pull into a ridecamp and see the trucks (of all ages and 
types) and trailers (of all makes and age), and the riders (of all 
backgrounds, means and locales) AND the horses of all breeds and levels of 
conditioning...I am proud to be a part of this endurance "thing".
    We will continue to have isolated incidents of bad luck, bad 
horsemanship, bad management, bad trail markings, bad decisions on the trail, 
etc.  But, it will be the manner in which we overcome these things that will 
define us as an organization.
    Not ANYONE'S ideas of "world rankings" or whatever.  
    Smooth Sailing,
      Frank
      U.S.Navy-Retired
      AERC #8422