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Howard wrote:
Because, that's the damn beauty of the sport! You don't get it
because you haven't done it. For some of us, this is what makes the whole
thing so darn exciting, invigorating, and enjoyable, if not sometimes a little
scary. Anybody can play at our game. Anybody, including you,
Karl. Anytime you want. Just show up with your horse and get thru
that pre ride vet check, and you're in. We don't want no stinking rules,
we don't want no levels of ability set on us or our horses, we just want the
clipboard lady to say, "Giddy-up and GO!"
And *this*, Howard, is why I'm
so reluctant to participate in "your" sport. I've spent a lot of hours at
home, making sure that my horse is safe to be around, that he listens to me,
doesn't kick out at other horses and riders, will only travel at the gait which
I dictate, will stand quietly whilst a hundred other horses are behaving badly
(and yes, Howard, I do know what that's like - ever been out Hunting?), and,
basically does not impose a danger to himself or others.
And now, just as I think "yes,
I'm ready to do my first distance ride", I read a post like this. And you
know what? It *doesn't* make me want to do endurance. It *doesn't*
excite me. It scares me and it makes me angry.
Because this game is dangerous
enough as it is, without willingly subjecting myself to the palookas out there
on their ill-trained mounts.
It *is* possible to have a
controlled start, without allowing it to become dangerous. How do you do
that? I could tell you (because it's done in other sports), but I get the
feeling you're not interested, because I'm not "qualified" to tell you, having
never done a distance ride.
Tracey
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