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[RC] Pony News and FEI - Oldwaggy

With our completion of the fifty miler on day one of the Cuyama Ride a few weeks ago, back-up Icelandic pony Skjoldur and I became a Decade Team - horse and rider completing an endurance ride in each of ten years.  I'm the proud rider of two different Decade horses, since Remington and I became a Decade Team two years ago.
 
With our completion of the hundred miler at the Git R Done ride a week and a half ago, Remington became the PSW Region's first Platinum horse under the 100 Mile Horse Recognition Program.  A horse reaches the Platinum level under the 100 Mile Horse Recognition Program when it completes at least ten one hundred mile rides and has at least 5,000 career miles.  13.3 hh Remington now has ten one hundred mile completions and 10,300 miles.  No doubt there is great consternation in the secret inner workings of the AERC that the only 10,000 mile horse anywhere still doing hundred milers isn't even a real horse.
 
Incidentally, I was very impressed with how completely unintrusive the FEI part of the Git R Done ride was in the ride experience for us just plain folks.  It was a nice surprise to see Mike Tomlinson, Jan Stevens and Vonita Bowers at the ride.  They did a great job in keeping things just normal.  We are really lucky to have Vonita as our USEF representative.  A couple of years ago there was a lot of complaining about how jointly sanctioning with FEI ruined AERC rides.  Maybe things have changed since there sure wasn't anything to complain about at this ride unless you didn't care for sand.  If I put on another ride again, I might just add an FEI division if that means Mike, Jan and Vonita will come and help.
 
Rumor has it that the Icelandic financiers who are taking over much of European banking are using their money to convince the FEI to establish a Northern division in recognition of the disproportionate participation of Icelandic ponies in hundred mile rides.  (Since both my ponies do hundred milers, that's a 100% participation rate for the breed, right?)  Consistent with the apparent correlation of money and course design in the international scene, Northern division FEI rides will be all about traversing fields of volcanic rock and crossing glacial rivers.  Probably during the winter, no less.
 
John Parke
Solvang CA
 




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