Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

How did this get to be about abolishing weight divisions?  Who suggested 
that?  I missed it!

I thought the point that Beverly, Joe, Heidi, Don and I were making was 
that while keeping the current Weight Division awards, it would be nice to 
have one award for the season's most successful horse/rider team.

What we didn't say but which is at the heart of the question is, for whom 
do these awards exist?  The current set of awards exist for a relatively 
small number of riders who have the time and money to compete.  This elite 
group gets its rewards at the banquet and as another poster mentioned, 10 
minutes later no one remembers who won what, except the winners and their 
family and friends.

On the other hand, a National Champion, the BEST horse/rider team in the 
whole country over the last year, now THAT would be an award for all of us. 
 People are not inspired by the guy down the road who did really well. 
They are inspired by superstars and the AERC doesn't recognize those any 
more.  It's like when kids are playing basketball, they don't pretend to be 
their local high school or college star.  They pretend to be Kareem or Dr J 
or Michael Jordan or Magic, names that mean something to every basketball 
fan in the country.

Who are the AERC's superstars?  Who can Endurance riders across the country 
seek to emulate?  Even today, people still whisper with awe and affection, 
"Look over there.  That's Becky HART!"  Where are tomorrow's Beckys?  WHO 
are tomorrow's Beckys?


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