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Maryanne Gabbani wrote:
> Oddly enough, after each WEC there has been a similar dialogue about 
> how the US team simply isn't "good enough". In fact, I remember dear 
> Tom Ivers fanning the flames on many such discussions as he LOVED a 
> good heated argument.
>
> Please guys, most of you have never seen industrial endurance in 
> action. I read Meg's email journal and I just shook my head. I think 
> that the US team did brilliantly considering the bad luck and the huge 
> difficulty in organising such a team. There are a number of points 
> that need to be considered and most of them boil down to a difference 
> between family/fun competitive endurance and industrial endurance.
I think "industrial endurance" is a good name for it. In reality the 
size of the US is an issue but I think by far the biggest one is 
professionalism. If you have unlimited money and you don't need to work 
or you are being paid to ride and train endurance you can pursue 
industrial endurance on a professional basis. We just can't do that in 
this country at this time - given the model we are using.
> 3. Attitude, Attitude, Attitude: To Finish is To Win does not cut the 
> cake in the UAE. They are out there to win when they are racing 
> against their cousins in a local race and they are out there to win 
> the rest of the time. In fact, I suspect that how they do against 
> their cousins is often more important than anything else. To really 
> focus efforts the way they do, the US would have to TOTALLY change the 
> way of picking a team and working it year round. I honestly don't 
> think that you all want to go there.
I think that's the only attitude you can take into the WEC. Eventually 
the FEI will probably move toward stopping the event after the all the 
metals have been accounted for. That would actually be better for the 
welfare of the horses - why go the extra miles when there is nothing 
left to win.
> The world is a big place, folks, and doing well in one arena doesn't 
> ensure doing well in another. There was a time when UAE riders would 
> have wiped out at most US rides.  I suspect that there are UAE horses 
> and riders who are getting good enough and versatile enough to tackle 
> more technical mountain rides and do well now with horses that can run 
> blisters into some of the US horses. They would, however, have to work 
> out how to train for altitude, which is something that they don't 
> have...maybe some treadmills in some of the C140's with the 
> pressurisation turned off.  I didn't expect them to do well in 
> Malaysia if they were riding the way that they usually do, but they 
> are coming up on strategy and versatility. They can buy the best 
> horses worldwide, hire the best trainers, train the devil out of them 
> in ways that most of us simply can't imagine, and ship them where ever 
> they want. They didn't have to acclimatise, like I said, all they had 
> to do was leave the barn doors open and the airconditioning 
> off....they have a ghastly climate.
The UAE and the rest of the world in general is getting better. Their 
model is better matched to the WEC than the one used by the US because 
as you note, size of the country and resources.

Back prior to professionals being allowed to compete in the Olympics - 
the US was operating at somewhat of a disadvantage in that many of the 
athletics from other countries particularly the Soviet Block nations 
were supported by their government. It was very rare to see an US 
athletic compete in international amateur athletics past their college 
days during that era. Of course that's no longer true. But given 
professionals can compete the rest of the world is also getting better.

You can bet Lance Armstrong would have not won a single Tour de France 
if cycling used the same model as the USEF does for endurance. The only 
way it seems for the US to step up to the plate is to follow something 
similar the cycling model - that is through sponsorships. Armstrong rode 
for a team funded by sponsors. That was basically his job. The team 
worked and rode together on a regular basis. The team had coaching year 
round. It was a profession - not a hobby. At the upper level there is no 
longer any amateur sports in the US.  If the USEF insists on using the 
current model it is using for international endurance - I expect it will 
be a very long time until we see another metal in the US.

It's not our riders or horses in the US - it's our program or should I 
say lack of one.

Truman

--

"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of 
one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that 
oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the 
beginning if it is to be stopped at all."   H. L. Mencken


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