Sylvia,
I don't know anything about Karen's ride history.
I don't really care about Karen's ride history.
The truth is, I don't really care about percentage of completion, percentage of pulls, etc. That's not to say that I wouldn't love to complete every ride started with no problems, seen or unseen...I would.
Does this seem strange to you.
I hope not...
To my knowledge, there is no AERC award for the rider (or horse) with the highest completion to pulls ratio, at any level.
There seems to be a stigma in the endurance community about PULLS.
That's too bad...it seems to me that when a rider pulls a horse or a vet pulls a horse, it is probably a good thing for the horse.
Is it a good thing that something has CAUSED the horse a problem?....absolutely not. Is it a good thing that someone cares enough about the horse to either pull on their own or, thank God, a vet helps the horse by noticing and (sometimes it takes this....) CONVINCING the rider to pull the horse and (if that fails), looks the rider in the eye and says, "this ride is over for this horse, go take care of (fill in the blank) and next time check your ego at the door, willya, you big dope...." (okay, vets don't really talk this way...)
The ONLY heroes in this sport stand tied at the trailer all night or meander in portable corrals waiting to carry the weight of the day and of our dreams and aspirations while we rummage around looking for just the right riding outfit and latest gadgets and supplements to make us more efficient in the pursuit of that perfect endurance ride. The heroes spend the night eating, drinking, pooping and peeing, while we listen to the clock moving closer and closer toward the ups and downs of the day to come.
It's only my opinion, but I think that anytime we get to ride, it's the perfect endurance ride...pulling or getting pulled happens in order to protect the horse from more serious damage or, God forbid, permanent damage.
We focus too much on the rider and too little on the horse...ultimately, RIDER History is (in my opinion) not as important as HORSE History.
And, Harca is a cool horse.
Are there egos and super-egos in our sport, sure, but they'll get it one day, hopefully, though, not after too many horses have to suffer teaching them.
No slings and arrows here, directed at anyone, just some random Sunday morning ramblings.
Take care,
Frank.
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