I’ve
decided to de-lurk for a moment to respond to this thread.
I’ve
ridden a few FEI rides over the last few years. I have found them to be
well organized rides overall. No ride is without it’s
problems, no matter how much preparation is done or how many volunteers there
are but this is the same whether the ride is FEI or not. I actually
prefer many of the procedures at FEI rides over local rides.
Many
of the “rules” at a ride are decided by ride management, not
necessarily FEI, AERC, ERA or any other sanctioning body. At the Canadian
Championships last year we were not allowed to take the horses back to the
trailers but I believe it was because ride management had concerns about
traffic flow in an out of the crew and vet areas.
There
are only 7 FEI rides in the US
in 2005, 3 of them are in June. It seems to me that with all the other rides
available, you could easily avoid an FEI ride if you wanted to.
