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Re: [RC] a perfect 100 - Maryanne Stroud Gabbani

Yes, Steph. This is what I've always thought that endurance WAS about, although after some sad experiences here I find that it is what it SHOULD be about. I can't imagine being very interested in how many miles I can rack up, after all, I've done more mileage in cars than I'll ever do on a horse if human mileage is important....and I think that this is the case for most riders who have to trailer very far. Maybe the question shouldn't be over whether a rider is LD or endurance ever...that's just the length of the journey that day. And as you say, the horses couldn't care less about the definitions but they are the important ones.

It come to my mind that what causes horror stories like the stupidity that occurred here under the Egyptian FEI auspices is in fact the problem that the stupid humans are thinking that they win the race rather than the horses and that somehow winning this makes them either a better (or unfortunately a richer) person. Maybe a little ego-ectomy is in need.

Maryanne
Cairo

On Monday, November 3, 2003, at 04:04 AM, Steph Teeter wrote:


It's been interesting reading some of the recent ridecamp posts on
'endurance' , LD, etc. Believe me - once you've done a 100, once you've seen
the horse you're riding cover One Hundred miles in one day... the awe and
respect for what these horses can do is overwhelming. It's not about us -
the riders - the LDers, 50 milerss, whatever - it's about the incredible
feat that these horses can accomplish. For us to try to label ourselves
seems so silly, we (the humans) are mere passengers, we are simply playing
our sport however it suits us. These animals, these horses, are beyond
words - the heart, the willingness, the sheer physical ability. Please -
let's not forget that we arbitrarily set the game rules at 25, 50, 100,
whatever... but these animals are oblivious to our definitions. And they are
magnificent. And 'we' are simply passengers. We should worry less about what
'we' accomplish, and more about what these animals are capable of doing, and
the responsibilty that each of us has to compete within their ability, not
within our definition of the sport.


Still grinning...

Steph


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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

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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[RC] a perfect 100, Steph Teeter