Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Starting in January, interviews and more will be in Endurance News on the
50 horse and rider teams who have been together for a decade or more,
thru the 2003 ride season. You can reach the list from the AERC home page
http://www.aerc.org/
in the Membership menu under Membership Recognition, look for "Decade Teams".  Here is a sample of what the interviews will be like.  This is Karen Bumgarner and Zap: http://www.aerc.org/long_karenb.asp 


"In the 1960s, when endurance riding was in its infancy, the conventional wisdom was that horses were tough and that is the way we approached them. I don't think it ever occurred to any of us that you could actually kill a horse by overriding. I know now they are very fragile. I think the longevity we are seeing now with horses with ten plus years in this sport still going down the trail speaks volumes of how far we have come. So I now consider that the goal rather than having to win."  Julie Suhr


I'd like to thank everybody who has generously taken the time to respond to the questionnaire in one form or another.  This group has been incredible.  They are incredibly interesting and have so many great stories and a wonderful perspectives--we are very lucky that they are willing to share it with us.  I have already received back more than 30 complete responses, with almost all of the rest still working on theirs.  I have already learned so much about people that I did not know before, and I have even learned a lot about people I did know.  

Please go check out the link.  If you think that someone has been left off that belongs there, please contact me and let me know.  I just ask that first you look up the horses record in the AERC database http://www.doublejoy.com/erol/Individual/HorseHistory.asp to make sure first that:  1) the horse has completed 50+ mile AERC rides for at least ten ride seasons with the same rider and 2) the horse has completed at least one 50+ mile AERC ride in the current 2003 ride season.  I realize that there are several other great horses who have shared riders, or are doing LD currently, or went down the trail for a decade or more previously.  I wish I could include every great long lasting horse.  Part of why I wanted to do this is to show some of the membership who these people and horses are that are still out there on the trail right NOW.  Plus, I've got enough material to work with that I could keep Endurance News filled from cover to cover for the next year!  Each interview will be edited for the magazine and the full unedited version will be put online each month as each one is published.  There is so much wonderful stuff contained in them that it would be a shame not to share it.

Happy Trails,

Karen
in NV