Ridecamp: RE: [RC] The Way We Win

Bobbie:

We have a competitive sport with a recent history that is
enviable in the annals of equestrian competition be it
showing on the passive end or flat track racing on the
kinetic end.

We have many hours, days, miles and competitive events that
are, compared to any other equestrian sport, relatively
incident free. That means both fatal and non-fatal injuries.

There comes a tine of diminishing returns or you might state
it as diminishing returns on investment.

There is no way that any competitive sport will ever be
completely free of injuries or deaths. If there were no risk
it would not be a sport. Let's face it, people even die
playing chess.

While you are a compelling journalist and can engender
passionate feelings with words, these words do not
necessarily relate to the actual real world. I would suggest
you relegate the hyperbole to the trashcan and look at the
hard cold facts. How many horses have been impaired by
endurance competition and how many horses have met an
untimely death caused by endurance competition? Rationalize
those facts with the hundreds of thousands of competitive
miles ridden over that same period of time. Look at the
ratio of injury per thousand miles and look at the deaths
per thousand miles.

Then with those facts in mind, look at all the other
equestrian venues and tell me we are at fault!  It is time
the Endurance faction started talking of how much better
they care for the horse rather than how poor.

Bob

Bob Morris
Morris Endurance Enterprises
Boise, ID

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Roberta Jo
Lieberman
Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 2:15 PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] The Way We Win


Karen wrote:
<....and it is never safe to race on a 100. ... If there is
no other goal but
to win, horses will keep dying no matter how strict the vet
control is.<

Matthew wrote:
>....get us to the place where stewardship
over time, with the speed entirely at the discretion of the
rider, is the reward

for both superior and elite performance<

Nobody is proposing to change the sport of endurance --
there are no speed
limits or rules imposed  -- only the rewards would change.
Rewards shape
behavior. And isn't that what we're trying to change -- the
win-at-all-costs
mentality?

Think about it in a different light for just a moment.....

If the federal government, after intense lobbying by animal
rights' groups,
ordered us to come up with changes in 48 hours or *they
would do it for us*,
what plan would you propose?  If it was a choice between NO
ENDURANCE at all or
something that we had a chance to design that arguably would
spare the lives of
horses, what would it be?

And then consider.....are we having this conversation
because we don't want to
be shut down by PETA....or because it's the right thing to
do? What is more
important to you, personally:  preserving the right of
someone (maybe even you)
to race for the win and all of the attendant risks that
involves....

...and to revisit Susan G's statement:

"Part of the problem is that we still don't have a perfect
system of
accurately evaluating horses during vet checks.  We've all
seen or heard
about horses that finished a ride with acceptable vet
parameters under good
vets and yet crashed later that night, or the next day or
whatever.  That
wouldn't be happening if a) they were not significantly
metabolically
stressed (which they are); b) if we had a timely and
comprehensive method to
precisely assess the horse's metabolic status (which we
don't) and c) if we
really understood exactly WHY crashing horses were crashing
(which we
don't).  Hell, we don't even have a really good handle on
what all the risk
factors are, though we're getting better at that."

....or the peace in your heart that comes from knowing that
you made a
difference in the lives of thousands of horses? Because it's
not just the
high-profile horses who are lost that are at stake here, but
the untold numbers
of competitiors who experience shortened careers or a
premature demise due to
chronic overriding. Only when stewardship is rewarded over
recklessness will the
balance shift to include *both* members of the team on equal
footing.

We have a chance to be bold here and make history. Endurance
riding (and AERC)
would become known as *the* equine sport that took a stand
for its equine
partners....we could become a model for change in the
competitive horse world.
(I've spoken with dressage and hunter-jumper folks who would
leap at the chance
to make a comparable shift in their sports, which often
exact a cruel toll on
their horses--all in the name of winning.)

Bobbie&Perle
Escondido, Calif.
AERC #3637


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 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

 If you are an AERC member - PLEASE VOTE in the upcoming By-Laws 
 Election!!!! (it takes 2/3rds to tango!!)

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