Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Maryanne - you speak so purely and from the heart. It's hard not to  
be moved.

But your example : "Any group of riding fools can get together on a  
Saturday morning for a weekly horse race followed by a pancake  
breakfast seasoned with laughs and boasting. Does that make them  
involved in the same sport as Thoroughbred racing, Arab racing or  
Quarterhorse racing? I don't think so. "  does not address the  
realities of organized Endurance riding.

AERC/AERA/etc etc are not just a group of riding fools (well maybe we  
are, but that's another subject :) - AERC is a corporation with a  
board of directors and published rules for the conduct of the sport.  
The fact remains that AERC's rules are almost identical to FEI's  
rules when it comes to the sport.

Steph

and for the sake of accuracy, there are many cultural versions of FEI  
Endurance - Leonard's comment that FEI in Europe is different from  
FEI in UAE is true, just as FEI in United States is different from  
FEI in UAE. I think this should be factored into the discussion. In  
most of the rest of the world people ride their own horses in FEI  
rides, and in most of the rest of the world there are no large cash  
purses in FEI rides, and in most of the rest of the world people in  
FEI rides DO care where the horse is tomorrow.


On Feb 14, 2008, at 10:53 AM, Maryanne Gabbani wrote:

> I find this really funny. If you all decide that endurance riding  
> with its emphasis on the team participation of a horse and rider,  
> the rewarding of lifetime achievements of distance and time, the  
> cooperative nature of participation by riders...including the  
> aspect of the ridecamp itself... is the same as FEI endurance  
> racing where the riders are jockeys who usually don't own their  
> horses and may only have ridden them a few times before the race,  
> where participants are staying in hotels rather than near their  
> horses, where the contestants are fighting over large cash purses,  
> where the only thing that matters is your win that day and no one  
> cares where the horse is tomorrow....are the same thing, well, I  
> suppose that you can.


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