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Melissa said:

> I talked with Christoph a little about the Mongolia
> ?trip when we were at S.F.F....
> He would be one of the only people I can think of
> ?who would be prepared enough, experienced enough,
> ?light enough, tough enough, & be willing to RUN
> ?more than ride and know enough about horse physiology
> ?that I would absolutely cheer him on right to the finish
> ?line of the Mongolian Rally and feel he wouldn't kill a
> ?horse in the process. 
?
So, now somebody who is so dead set against it that there is no way that 
anybody should possibly consider undertaking any such risk because the horses 
are going to be asked to do too much ... is willing to cheer on somebody she 
knows because she is sure that HE can do it. Christoph wants to do it, so 
suddenly it is okay.
?
And here is what I suspect is the real source of the multitude of complaints 
being aired here.? "We" didn't plan it or organize it and none of our heros is 
participating in it, so you shouldn't be doing it because only we know what we 
are doing with respect to riding horses long distances.
?
Personally, I am not so conceited to think that experienced endurance riders 
who have done sanctioned endurance rides are the only people who might be able 
to do this.? Nor do I consider the Long Rider's Guild to be the final authority 
on riding horses long distances (although, I will concede that few of them are 
riders of sanctioned endurance rides and probably more of them might be able to 
do this).? As a group, the Long Rider's Guild lost a great deal of credibility 
with me when they went off half-cocked at Disney for making the movie Hidalgo 
and its complaints that they shouldn't be basing light hearted family 
entertainment on a legend of dubious historical accuracy.? All I could think at 
the time was "get a GRIP guys, it's a DISNEY movie."? Ranked right up there 
with people complaining about the historical innacuracy of the Disney animated 
film Pocohontas...you know, the one with the talking racoon.? The Long Riders 
Guild has a history of
making a mountain out of a mole hill, and I wouldn't be the least bit 
surprised if they are doing the same thing here.
?
Right now I try to imagine what might have happened if worldwide internet chat 
lists had existed at the time that Wendel Robie first made his bet about riding 
his horse across the Sierra Nevada.? I can see it now, knee-jerk responses from 
people who heard about it from somebody who heard about it on Facebook and 
decide to fire off letters to the Queen of England telling her that she 
pressure the President of the United States to step in and stop this abuse of 
horses. God forbid that anybody let a full grown man ride his pony 100 miles 
across some of the most rugged terrain in the Western Hemisphere, a place 
where, historically speaking people have been attacked by wild animals (and the 
Tevis participant's Guide STILL warns of these risks) and there even is a story 
of some travellers in the area being so desperate as to have resorted to 
canibalism to survive.
?
The real problem here is that a handful of people who consider themselves to be 
the "baddest" distance riders in the world wouldn't want to do this, so it must 
be unthinkable...except for Melissa who only thought it unthinkable before she 
heard that somebody she admires personally would like to give it a try.? But, 
of course, he is the only one in the whole world who might succeed, and 
everybody else who might like to give it a try is just a yahoo who doesn't care 
about horses.
?
I am thoroughly disgusted by some of the response of the endurance community 
that I have seen here.? Endurance riders OUGHT to be more tolerant of the 
endeavours of people who are willing to challenge themselves and their horses 
and to give such a thing a try. After all, that is the very foundation of the 
sport.
?
I don't think we should be pooh-poohing it just because it doesn't fit our 
preconceived notions of how horseback riding ought to be done.? Who knows, this 
may become the next "fastest growing horse sport."
?
I just don't see it being all that hard on the horses.? Certainly not as hard 
on the horses as doing Tevis. Probably harder on the riders though; which, if 
you ask me, makes it a much better "sport" with respect to horse welfare than 
what we call "Endurance Riding."
?
kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)

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