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Re: [RC] who is captain of the ship - Joe Long

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 14:15:59 -0800, "Barbara McCrary"
<bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think I pretty much agree with you, Bob.  The placing in a 
ride has true significance.  

Yes, indeed!!!!

But if people keep worrying about how terrible it is having the 
occasional horse die (and I'm not suggesting it's OK, mind you), 
then what is the solution but to stop the speed motive?  We want 
our cake, but want to be able to eat it, too.  If we want racing, then 
we are going to have to accept the fact that a horse will die 
occasionally.  Unless, of course, we find some way to prevent 
death.  I don't have a truly useful solution, does anyone else?

If we adopted your "food for thought" scenario, with no speed-related
awards of any kind, and no one raced in any way, horses would still
sometimes die on rides.  We will never eliminate equine deaths on
distance rides (or any other organized activity with horses), all we
can do -- and what a realistic goal needs to be -- is to minimize
them.

We could never eliminate racing, though.  Even with no speed-related
awards, some riders would still race each other, just for the fun of
doing it.  It's in the blood, it's in the history, it's in the
tradition, and it's in the competitive nature of human AND horse.

Endurance Rides are not *just* races, they are more than races, and
not everyone wishes to race.  But Endrurance Rides *ARE* races.  Take
that out and they won't be endurance rides.

One of the most fundamental qualities of distance-riding sports is
that they are competitions.  And no matter how you slice and dice it,
a competitive measure of endurance in a horse/rider team is not just
going the distance, but doing so faster than the next horse/rider
team.  That is where the ultimate test of "quality" of the team lies.

I am not apologetic that I am a rider who loves to race for First
Place.  I'm proud of the success I've had doing that, and I look
forward to doing a lot more of it.  If the only riders near me are in
other weight divisions, no matter -- I'll race them anyway, for the
sheer joy of it.  

BTW, for those who claim that there is no meaningful difference
between endurance rides and LD rides -- that they are just different
categories of the same experience -- this is the fundamental
difference:  this test of endurance QUALITY (with racing) requires
more than 25 or 35 miles.  Even 50 miles on an easy trail is not
enough, but the AERC had to draw a line somewhere and we chose to draw
it at 50 miles (70 to 80 miles is more like it, but the logistics
weigh against that becoming our standard minimum endurance distance).

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com


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Replies
RE: [RC] who is captain of the ship, Bob Morris
Re: [RC] who is captain of the ship, Barbara McCrary