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[RC] "Real" Endurance - Benedikte Whitman

Just a newbies take on this issue.  Having done some CTR and one LD so far
I am certainly not the most qualified to comment - however...  

I do not see that being a limited distance rider vs. an endurance rider is
in anyway negative, demeaning, or "second class" - it is simply a
description of what I am doing.  However, when people start talking about
"real" endurance, that can really give a feeling of denigration and make
people feel that what they are being told is that they are doing "false"
endurance.

When people ask what I do I tell them I ride distance.  That usually
brings the wrinkled brow which immediately clears when I say I do
endurance, you know where you ride for 5 or 6 hours.  Now I know there is
a technical distinction within AERC, but for 90% of the population, the
idea of doing even that, i.e. "just" 25 miles, is inconceivable.  So even
though AERC technically says that I have not yet "endured", I am still
justifiably, IMHO, proud of what I have done.  Where I live 75% of the
horses I see NEVER leave their corrals and mine by comparison, are
constantly ridden.

I guess my point is that LD is just a descriptive name as in fact is
endurance.  Neither has any intrinsic value of their own and it is only
when someone assigns it either to themselves or if someone else uses the
term in an exclusionary and denigrating manner that it can be seen as a
negative.
Bendikte


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