Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I think you hit the nail square on the head. In the past by the time 
they make the team they have a few months for the horse to recover from 
a very hard campaign to make the team. On the other hand the French and 
UAE show up with fresh horses that are peaked for the race. 
Duh.............. Hopefully we are getting better at that.

If international endurance is important to the AERC then changes need to 
be made - we need a national team that is selected based on objective 
(not subjective) head on head competition on a course similar to what 
they will face in the WES a year before the WEC.  It makes no sense to 
use the Tevis to evaluate a horse/rider if the course is going to be in 
the desert in the middle east nor does it make any sense to use a desert 
ride for selection if the WEC is going to be in a humid climate!  We 
need a coaching staff to then work with them for a year to get them 
peaked and prepared for the type of course they are gong to see. Of 
course that takes a lot of money because if a rider is really serious 
they don't have time to work a normal job to support themselves and do 
the homework required to win the WEC.

That's not a probelm with the UAE and I think the French team is 
subsidized by the French government.  I don't see that happening any 
time soon in the good old US of A.

Truman

rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:

> If this is the trick, then we need to seriously reconsider how we choose
> our team. I've thought for awhile that we sometimes trashed our horses
> trying to make the team, then showed up with lots of semi-lame horses. I
> had a friend whose horse was nominated for Kansas.(I hope I'm remembering
> these details right but this is the gist) He had two very impressive
> qualifying rides I think maybe even a win & BC at one. She was done with
> them long before the end of qualifying and decided he'd proven himself so
> she'd take it easy and work to peak him for the World in Kansas. She
> didn't make the team and was told it was because "they hadn't seen him do
> anything *lately*". >sigh<  I think the French choose their *riders*
> ahead of time, then choose which horses to use at the last minute. All
> things to consider. 
>
>
>  


============================================================
The two best drugs to have in your kit are Tincture of Time and a Dose of
Common Sense. These two will carry you through 99.999% of the problems
associated with horses and endurance competition.
~ Robert Morris

ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/

============================================================