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RE: [RC] Response to the [RC] WEG- the USA team - heidiVery perceptive question. And yes, I know of top horse/rider
teams who are NOT entering the selection process--but it isn't always
time and money that is stopping them. In some cases it's the
politics.
Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but it seems to me that if AERC took a
more active role (ok, Bob, a LEADERSHIP role) we might be able to get
the personalities out of it at least to some extent. But right
now, there are definitely top contenders who are getting the cold
shoulder and who just don't think it is worth the personal hassle to go
through the process.
Additionally, the fiasco at the previous WEC where the "management"
of the squad insisted on changing everything from e-lytes to shoeing is
keeping a lot of top contenders out of the process. They know
their horses, they know what works for their horses, and they care
enough about their horses not to subject them to the one-size-fits-all
thinking that has infected our FEI "management" in recent events.
This has represented a big change from as late as 1998--I know riders
had far more "say" about what happened to their horses in Dubai that
year, and the result was that we came within 7 miles of finishing all 6
of our squad, our one pull was definitely in the "sh*t happens" category
(horse looked great and was running in the top 20, and had an
abrasion/laceration that caused a slight offness), we put one horse in
the Top Ten, and we came home with a silver medal. (We were in
the running for the gold had we not had the one pull.) The riders
who GET to that level need to have more input into the management of
their horses--it isn't something that strangers can do, no matter how
"experienced" they may be. (It will be interesting to see how the
riders perceived this aspect in Aachen...)
Heidi
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