Well Steph I can say that from my experience in France & surrounding
countries the emphasis is definitely shifting towards winning rather than
completing
Personally I much admire the mileage/career concept which exists in the US
and have tried to introduce this here on a small scale... not many riders are
interested!
Inevitably with money entering the sport and people starting to
'professionalise' and trying to make a living out of it - speeds are up, average
career lengths of horses are down
Horses are started younger, have less time to prove themselves, the pool of
potential endurance horses is growing as breeders produce more stock.. riding
costs are rising all the time ( think extra administrative stuff, passports,
chips, registration, ...) so horses have to start earning their keep earlier..
etc.
More emphasis is placed on rider fame rather than horse fame - read some
ride reports from say UAE and you'll know who won but not whom he/she (well,
rarely she) was riding!
There will always be an 'amateur' (in the proper sense) group riding for
fun while making their horse last but undeniably this group is getting smaller
here.
The 'to finish is to win' motto remains valid ... but not for
all.
UAE & even parts of Europe ofcourse don't help from a geological aspect
- no 'true' wilderness to conquer anymore at low speeds... what else can
you do in the desert but RACE?
so to answer your question - I'm afraid more & more riders will compete
more & complete less
brgds
Pauline
ps I believe there is a prize draw for spectators of the President's cup -
make sure you enter ; might win 3500$!!! Now there's a way of increasing
spectators that we simply cannot compete with...
From: "Steph Teeter" <stephteeter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: RE:
[RC] The Meaning of Endurance Riding
I'd like to see some
serious, civil discussion on the concept of Endurance 'Riding' vs Endurance
'Racing'.
I'm headed back to UAE next week to cover the Presidents Cup
160km event (Feb 18). In UAE as well as most of the rest of the world, there
is a strong emphasis on Winning, and along with it a focus on Training to
Win. I'm sure there are many exceptions, but as the sport grows around the
world, it is developing more as a competition, a 'race', then as a
recreational 'ride'. Not everybody tries to win at every event - many use
events as training and conditioning - preparation for a time when a
particular horse can excel - do it's best. Riders and trainers are not stupid
in this respect, but there is more definitely an eye on a final goal of
winning, excelling, doing the best ride for a given horse on a given
day.
I don't think there are a lot of career 'mileage' riders in most of
the rest of the world, at least in my experience and observation. The horses
and riders that are most honored are the ones that do well at an
event, especially if they can have a career of doing well.
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?
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?
thoughts? It would especially be fun to hear from some new
folks out there -
