RE: [RC] who is captain of the ship - McGann, Barb
Barbara,
I'm sitting here trying to honestly imagine
what a ride like that would be like. If we didn't award speed, what would
we award? Best Conditon?
Ok, so 50 or 60 riders get together to go
for a looong trail ride. You gather at the starting line and everyone
moseys out of camp. Some people want to walk, some want to trot and a few
might even want to canter, so you start spreading out along the trail.
Ride all day with no pressure. Finish the ride and stand for Best
Condition (everyone would get to stand for it, since placings wouldn't determine
anything). The speed element would have to be taken out of it, too, so the
only things that would count are horse condition and rider weight (as a
heavy-weight rider myself - woohoo!). Since horse condition is at least
partially related to how fast you rode, we would have a 30-way tie for Turtle
award!
Now, since the only challenge left is
against the trail (certainly not other riders and not against your personal best
time, etc), what do you want to bet that the ride managers will start saying,
well lets make the trail a REAL challenge. Lets put those riders up over
Mt. Baldy and through the glaciers, that'll be a real test. (Been there,
done that...don't get me started about the 50 mile ride that the winner took
over 9 1/2 hrs).
Also, since the ride vets will have a hell
of a time judging 50 or 60 horses at the end and determining BC, we would need
to evolve a complicated point system to assign values to each parameter judged
all through the ride, so we wouldn't have 10-way ties on BC. (The more
points possible, the less chance of ties). The vets wouldn't have to do as
much vetting, but they'd have to do a lot more "judging". Of course, there
would be a lot of "Well, the reason I didn't win is that judge(vet) doesn't like
me".
Since I am a mid-pack or back-of-the-pack
rider, I'm not automatically against this, just that I'm not sure what the
allure would be to get me to drive hundreds of miles, spents thousands of $, to
do group trail rides. If this was what would draw us, then why aren't we
doing NATRC or Chief Joseph trail rides which are readily
available?
Its just that there is something really
special about cruising along thinking you are 15th and finding out you were
really 9th! Or that you were 45th out of 90 - on that particular day, you
and your horse performed better than 45 others. And having experienced
show and NATRC, that was the thing that drew me to this sport - the fact
that you are competing against the clock! There's not shades of gray,
no "he didn't like me", just your performance measured by an impartial
clock.
Barb McGann, AERC #840
-----Original Message----- From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Barbara
McCrary Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 12:16 PM To:
Howard Bramhall; ridecamp Subject: Re: [RC] who is captain of the
ship
If we didn't award speed, would the
problems go away? What would happen if we only went out to ride for the
pleasure, the experience, and the adventure? What would happen if AERC
did not recognize speed? Would everyone quite the sport?
The thing is, Frank, we do have a problem. And, since we can't
really control these riders, we can control the sport. This is why I
really do believe it's the only answer. Make some changes to the sport
that affects Yahoos who will run their horse into the ground if we let
them. And, trust me, a Yahoo does not have to be an inexperienced
rider or one with low mileage.
If we're not willing to accept changes, nothing ever will. Make
it all about the horse; let the horse prove themselves in spite of who owns
them and who rides them. Have it restricted, with a tier system and we
will save horse's lives by making the system all about the horse and not
about us. If the members are not willing to make any changes or can't
agree on one of them, well, then, might as well get used to 7 equine deaths
per year and climbing with outsiders thinking endurance is over the edge
we've all been talking about.
My only wish is ya'll keep on open mind about all of this. Try
and decide what types of change you might actually be able to live
with before going over the deep end and saying "I'm going to quit if you
pass that stupid rule." No one wants you to quit. Do you quit
being an American if your neighbors elect someone you don't like? Do
you stop voting because a bill doesn't go the way you wanted? The
thing is I really do think changes are coming. You might want to start
deciding which of them you can live with and quit believing nothing's going
to change and today's endurance will stay exactly like it is till then end
of the millennium. I don't think that's going to happen. And,
deep down, I bet you don't either.
In a message dated 10/30/2003 8:32:22 AM Mountain Standard Time, SandyDSA@xxxxxxx writes:
I am not sure why LD is so denigrated
here and there. IT has not been a stumbling block to our
horses
It ain't the distance, it's the rider.
A rider who has no compassion and no
vision for anything other than a prize, an award, a title, a whatever,
will never truly see their horse or listen to the simple truths about
speed, coupled with terrain and weather, let
alone the variables involved with trailering and stress-free
conditioning.
I've seen riders who fit this description in every
horse sport to which I've been exposed...when I was younger, I
might'a slipped into those shoes a time or two just to find I didn't
like how I kept stumblin' when I wore them.
Thank God my ego was all that paid the
price.
I might prefer to start my horses on 50's, and a
time or two, even a 100, but that doesn't mean others HAVE to do
that. I would hope riders out there know what's better for their
horse than I do.
If not, well, then "We have a problem,
Houston...."
