Tom Ivers letter

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

Well, I just got my first issue of Endurance World since I decided to
subscribe and after seeing the post on ridecamp made a point to read
Tom's letter. I am FUMING!!!  Not only did he go off on an incoherent
rant against AERC showing his total ignorance of the concept "To Finish
Is To Win", he went off on a rant against AMERICA!  He managed to work in
all sorts of tripe about how soft and aversive to competition we are
(yeah sure, been to a Middle School or High School basketball game
lately? I've been to 4 so far THIS WEEK).  He stated that we as a country
never fail students in our schools....excuse me?  I'm a teacher Tom.  My
students would love to hear that, especially the lazy slobs who managed
to fail my ART class...and the ones who are dropping out now that they
see they cannot pass the advanced Math classes that we now require and
probably 90% of the congressmen who passed the laws would have avoided
taking at all costs if allowed to. Oh yes, Tom, they're failing left and
right.  The difference now a days is we won't let the poor future manual
laborers quit school and get started on their calling.  I guess Tom's
methods of research are pretty uniform in all areas.  Wait till someone
tells you what you WANT to hear, and accept it as fact.  
	All this is bad enough, but to read him putting down America in a
publication that comes from the Middle East at a time like this....>fume<
 Tom stated that our AERC rides are pretty much glorified "campouts with
horses" and made fun of the "To Finish Is To Win" idea, comparing it to a
no fail policy for losers... that we are afraid of the word "race". 
Listen Tom, I did rides for years.  My horse got fast and for a few years
without even realizing it I started calling them "races"... If I need to
slow down we'll be going to "rides" again.  Can you imagine having to
hire vets for the few horses who are peaking and ready to race on any
given day?  This sport requires for beginners and racers to use the same
venue to be economically feasable. It's a great situation in that the
beginners get to see first hand what the leaders went through and learn
by watching them.  I see no conflict. If we incorporated Tom's ideas into
other sports we would discontinue the entire Little League program
because those little "losers" don't play in a way that would challenge a
professional in the same game.  If Tom wants to argue treatments of
injuries, rehab, feeding or whatever his is knowledgable about, he has my
blessing; but for a person who has never dragged his rear end out of bed
and gotten a horse through an endurance ride to go take his case to the
world and tell them that I don't understand the spirit of endurance
RACING (yes Tom I said racing...I've ridden and I've RACED) is insulting.
 I'm insulted as an an American, and as an endurance rider that Endurance
World would print his letter.

Angie
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.