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[RC] WEG - the relevance of international competition - Mike and Laurie Hilyard

I think you get into a whole cultural thing too.  In this country, most endurance riders are middle class, workers or retired workers, riding their own horses.  Horses in this country have not been working livestock for 4 human generations.  We don't even remember that lame horses are used on a daily basis in many parts of the world. I live in an Amish community.  Every day I pass horses that are at least grade one lame on pavement at a trot.  Weekly I pass horses that are grade 2 lame.  Is that cruel?  These are working animals, and are not treated sentimentally.  Not many Amish keep older horses - in subsistance farming, if it doesn't work, it doesn't eat.
 
 American endurance riders do not see their horses as disposable.  We spend thousands on custom saddles, chiropractors and farriers to make "our" horse comfortable and acheive their personal best.  Maybe, if we take it seriously enough, when our first horse ages out, we look for a more appropriate endurance mount the next time.  IN regards to international competition I can see a real "who cares?" attitude in a lot of the membership now.  If I did have a 100 mile horse, there is no way on God's green earth that I would let it compete at that level.  When I first got involved in endurance, back in the early 90's, international competition was a goal, like the ROC.  Now, I think it is barely relevant to the majority of riders.  It is something distasteful about our sport that is difficult, if not impossible to defend.  Kind of like soring in TWH big lick classes. . .