This is the whole problem with awards - it turns on the political
process and political prowless of "special interest." The LD's want
awards, then the 100's decide they want awards, then the old gray
haired women decide they want awards, then the old bald headed men want
into the act - where does it end - in absurdity.
If done fairly awards should reflect two factors that are easy to
calculate:
a) The number of people competiting in the category of an award,
b) The budget to support an award.
Personally I am opposed to ALL awards that are based on promoting
"cultural changes or cultural values."
Personally I would just as soon see the AERC elimiate all awards except
regional points awards for endurance ( and mayber for ld with one point
= one mile) and regional BC awards (here I'm also going to include LD
at the risk of getting blasted back to the stone age).
Most likely if you dig far enough you will probably find many of other
awards were based on some form of special interest lobbying or some
other factor.
The AERC can't dictate what individual RM's, local clubs or regional
organizations can do - but they sure can decide what they can do and I
think the fewer awards the AERC gives the better. Use the money save on
something that will benefit all riders - like trails development - or
will benefit our horses - like more funding of research.
