100 mile races
Sloracer97@aol.com
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 21:02:19 -0500 (EST)
Teddy,
Endurance rides are races. As one of the bumperstickers you sell
reads. "...why have first place". At every endurance "ride" I have been to
they have awarded a 1st place, BC can only be awarded to "the top ten
finishers" ROC participants must have completed a certain number of rides
in "the top ten" and I don't recall seeing many horses at the WEG that made
the "teams" that were known for completing 100's in 24 hrs. Perhaps, you
can enlighten me to the USA team member/horse that has that record. All the
ones I can name were top placers in 100 mile rides. So obviously racing is a
large part of endurance!
We are so lucky to have a sport that honors both those that complete and
those that are able to win in the same competition! The only other sports I
know of that also do this are marathons and ultra marathons. Why detract from
either ? If a horse can complete a 100 miler in 9 hrs and meet all criteria
and is fit to continue - What is wrong with that? It is not a fair comment
to state that many fast horses do not last long...have you checked out how
many middle of the packers last only a short time also. There will always be
individual animals that are not suited to distance riding whether they do it
fast or slow.
Endurance is a race and we, the individual rider, get to choose how we
race our ride: against other competitors, against a 24 hr time limit, against
the trail or against our own demons. Why is it so hard to aknowledge that
endurance riding is a competitive race?