I'm not an AERC member but have ridden and worked with horses all my
life. I rode in one CTR and think that I'm more interested in endurance
(my cousin from Wisconsin has "Endured" for more than 20 years and my
intrigue has put her and her sport on a big pedestal!) Thus my signing
on to this fascinating list.
1. It seems to me that there are 440 people who are on this list who
are not AERC members, and who are as intrigued by Endurance as I am. I
wonder where they all heard about this sport and why they want to get
into it. I get the feeling it's not for the money...... I'll bet more
than a few of us with our "cash prize" opinions will be members some day
soon if the sport doesn't change into something else.
2. In my post about human athletes, I guess I meant that *endurance
riders* should do human endurance, maybe with a sponsor carrying the
whip, to see if they'd run in pain for money.
3. It's interesting that even people who have their horse's best
interest in mind can still inadvertently hurt their horse. How will
bigger prizes blind riders to their horse's signals?
4. Rodeo horses are usually owned by a pro company and work for 8
seconds a day if they are sound. Local rodeo paticipants pay $50 for an
8 to 20 second event to win $50 x # of participants. I've never seen a
barrel racer win BC. Not much correlation to endurance.
5. Some people have talked about publicity. Could someone tell me why
a specialty, non-spectator friendly sport wants or needs publicity? I
am reminded of another specialty, non-spectator friendly sport which
took place in Beaver Creek, CO for 10 years.
Winter triathalon. 15 mi cross country skate skiing, plus 9 mi
snowshoeing, plus 12 mi speed skating. Total elevation change approx.
3,000 ft up and 5,000 ft down. Grueling. Intrigueing. Beautiful
athleticism. High emotion and excitement. "Who the heck would do this
type of thing?" Lots of awesome volunteers. Very difficult to
spectate. Competitors went for miles without seeing anyone (competitor
nor spectator). **Sound familar???**
The first few years there were no cash prizes, just "stuff". Each year,
managenent got more and better sponsors (BUSCH beer, for one), prizes
and cash prizes got bigger and bigger, and finally ****TV COVERAGE***
for the 10th aniversary race!!!! ESPN would film the race! Oh boy! All
these great endurance athletes and their sport would be famous!!!
The race was in January and aired in May (when winter sports enthusiasm
has waned). ESPN showed the top 3 **men** on various parts of the
course. (Of course women raced, but TV sports are mostly for wanna-be
males. Please don't shoot me for that observation!) The play-by-play(?)
guy spoke fast, supposedly in excitement but the 4 hr. to 9 hr. race was
all over in about 7 minutes so I guess he had to hurry.
That was the last year. The race was not run again due to lack of
**sponsorship.**
Something to think about. I know I may be comparing apples to oranges
here but there ARE similarities. Growth in an awesome sport like this
may be inevitable, but competitors and management need to define what
kind and how much, and then think about sponsors and $$$$$. Maybe a few
different factions will spring out of all this. COULD I PLEASE SIGN UP
FOR THE ORIGINAL? Unfortunately my endurance prospect is muscle
deficient from a laceration and vet says no endurance, so it'll be a
while before I have a horse that can do it....I guess at that point I
can see what the sport has become and decide whether to participate
or not...... In the mean time I plan to attend some events as a
volunteer....see ya then.
BTW how much is the anual AERC membership fee?
Bambi Forbes