Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

The very riders representing our country in the Olympics will tell you they don't consider themselves athletes.  Perhaps it's a matter of semantics.  There is NO WAY you can compare the athleticism of an Olympic runner to that of an Olympic rider.  Heck, most of the time a rider doesn't even get aerobic! 

Furthermore, I haven't read on RC where anyone has said riders in one discipline are more or less athletic than another. 

Now, these riders, along with most average endurance riders, are FIT and athletic.  My point is, a XC rider isn't the athlete...the horse is.  The horse has to make the team.  If the rider could do what the horse could do, the that human would be in a track & field event.  It takes time and effort for the human rider to learn how to ride effectively and help the horse perform to his maximum and that rider had better be fit.  While it's true a rider can be athletic, the rider is not the athlete the runner is.

For what it's worth, I don't consider a golfer an athlete either.  

 sharp penny <penelope_75647@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> .... so then, how do you explain the 3 day eventing, show
> jumping , dressage and soon to be reining in the summer
> olympics? Riders in these events are no more or less
> atheltes than endurance riders. Contrary to your post it
> does take training, skill, endurance and all the other
> things human athletes without a horse have to be at the top
> end of any equestrian venue.


Susan Young Casey, Princess of Pink, LIW, RRHA, RHS
Semper Obliquo (Always aside)  

Glenndale Grace Farm, Ft Gibson, Oklahoma U.S.A.

"Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride on over all obstacles, 
and win the race!"         - Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

---

Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more