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To me, the key is developing the horse to his full potential.  For that given horse, that full potential may or may not be competitive.  So whether or not "safe" and "competitive" are paradoxical depends a great deal on the inate ability of the horse. 

 

For some horses, it will never be "safe" to be "competitive" even if they ARE developed to their full potential.  Others have run for years quite safely while being very competitive, because they were likewise developed to their considerable full potential by riders who knew and understood them.

 

I think that a part of the problem still lies in horse selection--IMO we do have riders trying to ride competitively who try to bring horses past their inate potential (the old square peg in a round hole problem).  Many of these horses would likely be just fine in a less competitive situation.  This needs to be a part of the education process about what constitutes "safe" in our sport.

 

Heidi

I strongly disagree with you if you are saying that if you ride "competitively" or ride your horse at it's highest competitive potential you can't do this safely.  I would love to hear why you think this is paradoxical.   I guess we have become so politically correct in this sport that I don't even feel comfortable using the word "race" on this list even though every AERC ride is a race. 

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