Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Title: Re: [RC]   Malik:

on 10/17/03 8:11 AM, Howard Bramhall at howard9732@xxxxxxx wrote:

>  
> The point I'm trying to make is we need to do something here. Dane Frazier has suggested that a horse spend a year doing LD's before doing their first 50 miler.  And, he adds that the horse should do a year of 50 milers before doing their first 100.  I can hear the moans and groans over this idea but, if you stop and think about the best interests of the horse and the fact that things aren't really getting much better along the lines of horse deaths at endurance rides the way things are currently, you may decide it might be time for a change in this direction.  We need to step up to the plate.
 
I'll tell you what. If someone made me do a year of 25 milers before I could do a 50, I would never have gotten into this sport. I trained for 4 years on the same horse so that when I did enter a ride, I could do a 50, finish and be proud of it. I have NO desire to do a 25. I do that all the time at home. I have NO desire to enter a 25 mile RACE which is what many are, and I think the suggestion is insulting. A year of 25s? My horse's brain would be fried from watching all the racers by the end of that year. Some of us are not interested in doing 25 milers now. A whole year of them would be insufferable to me. Why should I do that if my horse and I are ready, conditioned and prepared to do a 50?
Some people train the right way and would like to pursue the sport of endurance. How many riders are we going to lose if we impose that rule? Why do we always want to treat people like babies and spoon feed them everything?
When are we going to rely on personal responsibility? It is the rider's responsibility to get their horse ready for the task at hand. It is part of this sport. We have committees to reprimand riders for doing the wrong thing. Hasn't part of this sport always been making people think instead of shoving everything down their throats? If I wanted a billion rules I would have gone back to showing. Some rules are great, some are not.  A whole year of 25 milers is not a great way to start off in this sport. 
I LOVE that I can enter a multiday, a 100, a 75, a 50 OR an LD. What are we going to make it three seasons before you can ride a multiday? 
Howard you are always preaching about freedom. Well, so am I. 
Tiffany