Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

Re: [RC] Endurance - 2008 WEC Malaysia - Truman Prevatt

Ah, the two edged sword. The eventers had to make their courses easier after the bad press in Barcelona when the horse was shown weaving, stumbling and gasping for air after the course. You can race a technical course the same as you can a flat course. If your goal is to win and the guy in front of you is taking risk to do it then either you drop back and hope they don't make it or you keep up. If you drop back and they do make it - you are screwed. If you keep up, you may very well be screwed. An injury to a leg can be as life threating and/or career ending as a metabolic crash. And don't forget from time to time the number of horses lined up on IV's - technical can also take it's metabolic toll.

Given WEC is a race - would a technical course trade one risk to the horse for another? I don't think it's so much the course has changed but it is the sport that has changed at the FEI championship level. It's not about finishing, it's not about a long partnership with the horse, it is about winning - pure an simple. In a sport where a rider is crowned the world championship if he can get his/her horse around the course on a given day faster than anyone else - it's not about the horse it's about winning the race and doing all that is necessary to get it done be it a easy course or a hard course.

Truman

Steph Teeter wrote:
Kat - I somewhat agree, and you notice that I put 'kind' in quotes.

Here's a real challenge: there are many in the sport(and in FEI as well) who
feel that endurance courses need a greater level of 'technical' challenge.
Some of the other disciplines were rather appalled after the Endurance
competition in Aachen - the general press was not kind. They described it as
'too demanding, not enough horsemanship, too impersonal (grooms and pit
crews), too disorganized, too hard on the horses...etc. There will be an FEI
endurance forum sometime in the future where people can talk about issues of
concern with each other and with those who are in the position to create or
change the rules of the sport. One of the issues of concern (both within and
outside of the FEI) is the nature of the sport as it has developed over the
past decade. That is, a fast 'race track' course has replaced the
traditional (Tevis course) concept of Endurance riding. It takes less
horsemanship to jockey a horse over a flat track than over a challenging
technical trail.

So, given the fact that some places simply don't have the terrain for the
classic technical challenge, how can we, or even 'can we' regulate the sport
so that it is more appealing, less demanding on the horses, something
greater than a 50% completion rate, a sport requiring more horsemanship?

Can we regulate the amount of 'technical trail' in any given event? i.e. x
number of miles of difficulty or natural obstacle(hill, sand, rock,
x-country, etc). How about scattering slalom sections along the trail (can
those horses turn?).

any ideas??

Steph

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of k s swigart
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 12:43 PM
To: Ridecamp
Subject: [RC] 2008 WEC Malaysia


Steph said:

I understand that Terennganu (the venue for the 2008 WEC)
is flat and has little or no rock, it is near the beach
(east coast) so there may be sand, but I think they are
actually grooming most of the course to make it as 'kind'
as possible.

Personally, I think this is probably a mistake.  Rocks would provide an
incentive for riders to slow themselves down, and those that don't will more
likely be eliminated for lameness before the horse runs into serious
metabolic problems.



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=





--

“Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.” Albert Einstein


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Replies
[RC] Endurance - 2008 WEC Malaysia, Steph Teeter