Ya'll, I cannot emphasize enough what a
fine line the RM walk on putting on their ride next
year!
We had a new ride here two weeks ago,
and the RM will not do it again. Why? Two reasons. 1.
Harassment before the ride about "doing it our way" and 2. a rider got in her
face and accused another of cutting trail, and got furious that the vet pulled
one of her friends. (Not an AERC member)
I most likely will not put on my Spring
ride of 16 years next year because of the parking hassel and the one or two who
insist they are the exception to the rules. So 60 people lose out
because of two.
Along with the complaining, more riders
seem to insist on more "perks". I was amazed to hear a complaint of "this
ride needs water troughs on trail" when the trail had plenty of creeks and
ponds! But that doesn't seem to be good enough anymore...the ponds are
muddy, there are FROGS in them, and heaven forbid, someone sponged out of my
horse's drinking water! And when RM try to accomodate, it seems the riders
just want more and more.
Let me
give you an example. Water troughs. For years camps were at ponds or
creeks. You bucketed water to your trailer, and sometimes this was quite a
long way away, and always, it seemed, uphill. Then we had a campsite that
had to be where there was no water, so someone had a water tank in their truck,
they went to the local fire station, and filled up a trough! HEAVEN!
Now we can bucket water without having to wear our mudboots! Then someone
went to a ride out of our region and came back and said "we can't sponge out of
the same trough the horses drink out of! How very uncouth! So, the
poor RM, in order to make the riders happy, put out more buckets, with labels as
to which is which. (BTW they had to go buy more muck buckets which added
to the cost of the ride). Then some poor tired smuck used the wrong bucket
for their sponge, and another rider ran to tell the ride manager that "hey,
someone is not following the rules!" So the RM, who could care less if
there are special buckets and only did this to please the riders, ends up
getting complaints. Riders, you need to take a CHILL PILL.
WHO CARES if someone sponged out of the wrong trough? The horse sure
doesn't. He's not going to get some sort of disease from someone's
sponge! Two different troughs?? Be glad you have water at
all!
All you need is a good vet, a well
marked trail of the correct length, and horse water at vet
checks. PERIOD. Anything else is just icing on the
cake.
The solution to rider appreciation
and RM burnout is the same! Go back to having BARE BONES rides. Go
back to only offering a well marked trail, a good vet, and a pond at the vet
check. Riders, this will make YOU more responsible and more
appreciative of ANYTHING ELSE, and RM this will make the ride so simple and no
headaches!
Well, I am off to a hot South Texas
ride this week. I know the trails will be well marked, and the vets
will be great. And guess what I am so excited about? This camp has a
HOSE connected to a hydrant!! LUXURY.
BTW, Anne Ayala (Biltmore RM and rep of
the SE on the RM committee) will be writing an excellent article on how riders
can help RM, so look for it in the
EN!
Louise (CT rep for the RM committee,
and RM rep for the Education Committee)
