Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Steph Teeter wrote:

> Some thoughts...
>  
> will the rest of the world eventually be more like the US? as their 
> riders mature, their experience grows? Will they value the horse and 
> rider that log thousands of miles as much, or more than the horse and 
> rider that win championships? Will they compete less and complete more?

No I don't think the rest of the world will become more like the US. We 
are talking about two different sports. One is semi-professional 
endurance racing. The other - in the US is strictly amateur - endurance 
riding. There is of course some gray area in the US where we do have a 
small number of riders that use the AERC rides and structure to prepare 
for international competition where they want to win as much as the next 
guy from France, the UAE, etc.

>  
> or will we eventually change? as our next generation  of riders 
> grows up with a more global view of the sport and perhaps set their 
> sites on International competition, championship victories? or will 
> our sport split, into Endurance Riding and Endurance Racing ? Are they 
> compatible? AERC seems to try to embrace both styles - awarding high 
> point riders and horses as well as high mileage and career 
> achievements. is this sustainable?

I also don't see the next generation of US riders being much different 
than this one. In many parts of the world any equestrian sport is "the 
sport of kings." In the US most people can compete in endurance riding - 
compare that to the USEF diciplines of Grand Prix Jumping, Grand Prix 
Dressage, etc. To embrace the full up endurance racing as practiced by 
FEI and the USEF - would require a kings ransom. Just look at how the 
USEF fees and FEI fees have grown. I know several people that were going 
to nominate for the NAC last year till they sit down and did the 
numbers. If endurance riding goes the way of USEF/FEI endurance racing 
you will probably only have about 500 people involved instead of the 
6000 member AERC.

I think what we have is two different sports that will most likely 
probably tend to diverge in the future rather than converge.

Truman


"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm 
not sure about the former."  - Albert Einstein


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