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Ride or Race?



Great reply, Annie!
 
 No!! You are wrong . You do not 'race' against yourself. you "compete" with  your level of experience, the condition of your horse and your self, the particular trail and distance. You do not race to outrun your level of these things.   " To finish is to win" And "FIT TO CONTINUE" is the battle cry. No, it is not a race. When you outrun yourself, your horse is in trouble.  When you loose the focus of these things and focus on getting in front of someone else, your horse is in danger.   It is an Endurance Ride.   If someone wants the win, and he/she remains focused on the horse and their level of the afore mentioned things, and if he thinks he can get in front of someone and remain focused on the things,  he is not racing he is still riding.
I agree with everything up to here, but how can I word that so that a total novice can understand it & still have it spark that competitive challenge that exists within all human beings?  Also, regarding your last sentence & not meaning to flame, but merely to understand your thinking, does that mean that the sport of horse racing should really be called "horse riding to go as fast as possible"?
 
 The goal cannot be to win a race. It must remain to complete a ride. He is a horseman, and he is riding, not racing. He is focused on the important elements of the Ride. Which are completing sound and safe. 
okay, then why does anyone bother to trot or canter?  There must be some element that I can articulate that seperates Endurance from pleasure trail riding besides just a T-shirt.
 
Giving your article a "race" face will give the wrong impression to the unknowing people you are directing it toward. And so I urge you to call it what we, the Endurance Riders, call it . An Endurance Ride.
Interesting statement.  Please clarify what qualifies one to call themselves "an Endurance Rider".  This could be something informative that I can use in my article.
 
 I will let others comment on the other points of your article.  The word that got me stirred up was "race."  I would suggest that you do some rides. Get involved.         Annie George
Excellent advice and I do look forward to others' comments, but please, let's not get into any arguments over this.  I expect opinions to differ and I did expect the word "race" to get some sort of reaction.  I did not use that word to incite anyone, but as an avid Endurance groupie for several years, it has remained unclear to me - which word is correct, ride or race?
 
Thanks, Annie, and please don't give up on me.  My husband will attest to the fact that I am trainable! :-)
 
Antoinette


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