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[RC] Endurance as a Spectator Sport (was WEC 2008 etc) - k s swigart

Steph said:

Alissa - the press and other disciplines weren't
critical of the Aachen course, they were critical
of the sport. Most of the rest of the Equestrian
world never sees Endurance unless it is held in
conjunction with a WEG.

Regarding the technicality of endurance courses,
that is more of a sport specific issue. The eventers,
dressagers, drivers, jumpers, vaulters, reiners know
little of the sport, nor of it's history. They just
saw a lot of tired and lame horses.

This is, I contend, one of the reasons the AERC (and endurance riders in 
general) should "aspire to the small time."  Ignorant people (and I mean people 
ignorant of the sport itself, not necessarily stupid, just uninformed) won't 
"just see a lot of tired and lame horses" if they aren't watching at all.  It 
is impossible to educate ignorant people in the space of a sound bite or three 
column inches, so there is no way to make it so the casual spectator sees 
anything other than a lot of tired and lame horses.  Far better to avoid casual 
spectators entirely.  This can be done by flying below the radar (especially 
since most endurance competitions, by their nature of needing lots of 
uninhabited space for the trail itself, are held out in the middle of nowhere).


 Remember  - most of the press and spectators
only see the action at the vet checks, and that
in itself is a significant PR problem.

Mostly because there isn't any other "action" at an endurance ride (unless 
there is some spectacular wreck).  There is nothing even remotely interesting 
in watching a bunch of horses trot (or even lope/canter) down the trail for 
hours and hours at a time.  There really isn't much by way of "action" at the 
vet checks either...unless the horse is very tired or lame.

Let's face it, endurance riding is not in any way, shape, or form even remotely 
interesting as a spectator sport.  There is no:

'good stuff' â?? the jumps and spins and piaffes and action)

Endurance horses that are not tired or lame are totally uninteresting.  There 
is no way to show the relationship that develops when you spend all the time 
conditioning and training the horse for the event (and this relationship 
doesn't even exist if somebody else has done it for you, which is becoming more 
the norm for championship level events).  And there is no way to show the joy 
and pleasure that both horse and rider can get from just going down the trail 
together for hours at a time over interesting and challenging terrain). And 
there is no way to show the immense sense of gratification when you and your 
horse cross the finish line together after 100 miles and you say to yourself "I 
cannot believe that we did that" and how much this makes you appreciate just 
how great your horse is.  

The winner from Spain in Aachen TRIED to show this when he did his final 
entrance with his hands extended to the side while the horse eagerly went 
forward to the finish line, but let's face it, most of the spectators just saw 
a guy on a horse going a few hundred yards at low speed.  _I_ was impressed, 
because I know what it took to get there, but virtually nobody else did...the 
"pre-show" that they saw of driving horses was probably more interesting.  
Endurance is a sport for the participants, not the spectators.  

And endurance riders would do well to be careful not to draw the attention of 
non-participants, because there really IS no way to show the non-participants 
what it is all about. Consequently, ALL the non-participant spectators are EVER 
going to see is a bunch of tired and lame horses.  Everything good about 
endurance is something you have to experience; there is no way to show it. And 
they don't see that even most of those tired/lame horses are fine and happy by 
the next day (because they stopped before they got too tired or too lame).

The sport of endurance riding is shooting itself in the foot by drawing the 
attention of non-participants to itself.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

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