Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Cindy,.. Believe me, from someone who has seen these rides as well as
> participated!
> This is still endurance!  A lot different but still endurance!
Certainly it is "still endurance," but it sure lacks one of the most
essential criteria that makes the sport so wholesome in our country.  My
hat is off to the top-notch horses who maintain that blistering pace, and
it is likely exciting to see enough of them in one place to make a race
out of it.  But the pull rate is once again astonishing.  Kudos to the
veterinary staff who makes the calls to do so, but the essential element
that is missing is the depth of having so many different goals within the
same sport.  We've always had our celebrities that could race at that sort
of pace, but the backbone of the sport of endurance is still surviving 100
miles.  That is what is lacking in these 100-mile dashes.

Yes, the horses who can do what these horses did are truly endurance
horses.  But so are horses who can endure mile after mile, completing time
and time again, turning in four-figure seasons, and five-figure careers. 
With the emphasis on speed, that element of the sport, so essential to the
sport as we know it, goes by the wayside.

I'm not dissing these horses in any way.  They are fabulous.  But there is
a balance that is lost the way these races are run, and I find that sad.

I think Potato is likely right--these super horses could probably take on
Tevis or OD or Big Horn just fine.  But what I don't think they'll do (and
I'll be happy if they prove me wrong) is rack up 10,000 mile careers.  Or
even anywhere close to that.  And when we lose that part of the mix, no,
it isn't the endurance that is near and dear to many of us.  I think the
Aussies are a lot like us in this way, too--they want to ride their buddy
for a long time, IN THE SPORT--not just a quick flash-in-the-pan and then
retirement to something else when he's not quite on the cutting edge of
his game any more.  That longevity has always been something special to
our sport, and I'm sorry to see the emphasis being put so heavily on the
run for the front with no concern about consistency and longevity.  In
this sort of a scheme, there is no place for the likes of a DR Thunder
Bask, or a Rushcreek Ladd, or a Zapped, or....  well, the list goes on and
on, of names that will be remembered long after we forget who won the
President's Cup.....

Heidi


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