Check it Out!    
RideCamp@endurance.net
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index] [Subject Index]

another reader missing the point



Alison wrote:  >Yes, we should emphasize long-term horse health in every
issue of Endurance News...<


Karen responded: >>So it's okay to be in Endurance News but not on ridecamp?


Karen,
It's OK to talk about any issue on Ridecamp, OF COURSE. My point in the
"marathon posting" was NOT that we shouldn't discuss it on ridecamp, it was
that it is impossible to enforce a philosophy of long-term horse care on
people. And foolish to try to make ride qualification rules accomplish that.

I understand everything else you said, and agree with you. New riders can
learn by watching older ones, and we ALL keep learning throughout our
careers as riders. Yes, yes, yes. That is all true and I have never said
otherwise. In fact, those are such obvious truths, I wish people would quit
pointing them out.  But the story you and many others have got WRONG is that
new riders are NOT all gung-ho/gotta win/not paying attention to my horse,
just winning. I think that the experienced riders who DID start out that way
when they were new to the game, think that ALL new riders start that way.
They don't! There are many new riders just as "Zen" oriented as experienced
ones. They are out there loving nature, loving being with their horse and
with other horse lovers, glad to be a part of some exciting friendly
competition, and damn happy just to cross the finish line. And they ARE
hearkening unto, and learning from, the "old hats".

Alison




The rest of Karen's posting:

To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: Re: RC: Nationals Qualifications
From: Karen <karen@storallnv.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 09:58:07 -0800
In-Reply-To: <ENDURANCEWWWyEXUIEA00000ec8@endurance.net>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

At 01:18 AM 02/11/2002 -0800, you wrote:

I don't think anybody is trying to force people to do anything.  Some
people may actually pick something up and learn from all of these
posts  I've posted that had I started out racing one of my horses he might
have been one of the ones with one or two great ride seasons but that would
have been it.  I am hoping to give people an idea that sometimes there is a
bigger picture to look at.  When you are new and starting out every ride
seems like a really big deal, and if you miss one it feels like the end of
the world.  There are a lot of people entering this sport that don't have
any previous horse experience and there are lots of great horses out there
with a tremendous amount of ability.   I have seen that generally some
people aren't going to listen but most people starting out do try to learn
as much as they can.  If listening to a bunch of NAZI endurance riders
rattle off about what they think causes them to put more effort into trying
to rate their horse at a ride, or becoming more aware of things then that's
just great.  Power of the internet.  :-))

k




    Check it Out!    

Home    Events    Groups    Rider Directory    Market    RideCamp    Stuff

Back to TOC