Re: [RC] Be part of the solution - Lori Bertolucci
Maybe the mentors, or those wanting to be mentors, should speak up at rides. let the newbies there know that you would be happy to ride with them and help them along on that ride. It may mean slowing down your pace, and doing things a bit different than you might normally do. Most newbies, I would be willing to bet, would be happy to have someone with experience ride along with them. You don't have to camp with them or hold their hand, so to speak. Just be there to help them understand how it all works.
I was at a ride where a newby asked if anyone would be willing to ride with her. someone said they would. I later came up on her on the trail. Her horse was haing a tough time mentally and I guess the the person who started with her didn't stay and so I invited her to join me and the young gal I was mentoring. It turned out to
be a fun ride, I made a new friend and one more person and their horse completed without any problems.
So the next time a newby at a ride askes if anyone would ride with them, be willing to raise your hand.
Lori
FXLivestock@xxxxxxx wrote:
The mentor program is a wonderful part of AERC but I certainly do not think it should be mandatory. Encourage new riders to use mentors but mandatory???? I am amazed that because of this one incident at Mariposa, many feel that mentors should be mandatory for new riders. So because one new rider abused his horse the whole system should change? Can you imagine AERC trying to implement a mandatory program
like this? I think that mandatory mentoring would just be a nightmare trying to implement, regulate, and oversee.
If there is real concern about "newbies" making mistakes and over riding horses, I suggest looking at other countries and how they manage new comers to the sport. This seems like a much more reasonable solution. Do any other countries use "mandatory" sponsors or mentors? I haven't heard of this anywhere else. I personally find the Mariposa incident quite rare with new comers to this sport. How many times does this really occur with new riders? Enough to change a system? I certainly don't think so.
