Responses to several Topics

Barbara Madill (WFMADILL.FMF@worldnet.att.net)
Fri, 24 Jan 1997 14:52:06 +0000

Roger, on 1/22/97 I sent the following to ridecamp@endurance.net hoping that
it would be published so I make a few comments all at once. Anyway, here it
is, since I'd addressed you first.
January 22, 1997

Responses to several topics

TO: Roger Rittenhouse <VMAXEPT@aol.com>, Rebecca Hackworth
<bechack@cnsii.com>, tina hicks <hickst@puzzler.nichols.com>,
Tommy Crockett <tomydore@goblin.punk.net>, "Stoots, Tish"
<tish_s@erc.montana.edu>, truman.prevatt@netsrq.com (Truman Prevatt) ,ROBERT
J MORRIS <bobmorris@rmci.net>, Susan & Sabian
Luke Steele luke.steele@fujitsu.com.au, Teddy Lancaster RUN4BEAR@aol.com,
leifn@roskildebc.dk (Leif Neland), Sloracer97@aol.com, Wendy
Milner<wendy_milner@hp4000>
et al
SUBJECT: Racing, $$, Limited distance, Olympics, etc.

First let me introduce myself as having no higher aspirations than riding
and judging three day 100 Ride and Drives along the East Coast. I do the
occasional 50 (AERC) for fun, going no faster than all A's, and figure on
finishing in about 8 hours door to door. Very type "B".
I've been doing it for a long time (1965) and remember when three day 100's
were the ONLY game in town.
Vets used to evaluate heart and respiration as "normal" or "high".
Inversions were considered a condition worse than death, and our horses were
expected to recover to "normal" within an hour or so!
The sport began, patterned after the 300 and 350 Mile Endurance Trials
conducted in the 1920's by the United States Army to choose the best
breeding stock to use for Cavalry Remounts.
In 1935, Green Mountain Horse Association staged the first three day 100.
For years GMHA and the New York 100 used to weigh the horses to determine
weight loss (or gain) during the competition. We had to use the feed and
hay supplied by management so that as much as possible was standard.
We WERE allowed to use salt in the feed, but that was about it! We had to
keep our horses in their stalls until called to mount for the start, and by
the final day, vets were trying to determine the extent of muscle stiffness
as our horses left their stalls! (My horses were notoriously "hard to
catch" for haltering in their stalls. One mare practically free longed
herself in the GMHA stalls!)
Sometimes management, thinking we were cheating as we jogged out horses,
did the jogging for us. (They gave that up in a hurry -- not enough fit
joggers!)
With the advent of ECTRA, some standardization was established. By this
time I was judging rides by the old "eyeball" method. I questioned whether
the "right" horse would win by the new system. For a few rides I mentally
kept "double books" to see how the methods compared. I finally decided that
the new method was fair, and a lot easier to use.
Then speed entered the picture. The way I recall, there was a bit of a
fuss, back then, about the semantics of calling a 100 mile competition a
"race", so AERC took over the less threatening nomenclature "Endurance"
leaving the rest of us to try to explain the differences of the various CTR's.
So, no big deal. There's a sport for everyone.
However, I do feel strongly that there are probably no safe "races" at
distances under 50 miles. This does not mean that experienced horsemen
can't race safely at 30, 25 and 1 mile increments. It just means it's
harder to safeguard the horse from permanent damage at the shorter distances
with no minimums.
For this reason I wish someone would start judging the shorter distances as
an Enduro/Competitive. It would be so simple. The vet cards are already
there. If the vet cards were used in awarding the shorter rides, people
would use these rides as they should be: preparation for the longer distances.
Only "A's" would be used for placing -- simple! (Divisions established by
grouping in MPH ranges.) This doesn't mean the rides won't be fast, just
means that riders won't be tempted to over ride.

Re: $$, Olympics and the Saudis -- do we want a free market system or do we
not?
Wendy Milner put everything in perspective with her clever drawing:
\|/
/\ -O-
/**\ /|\
/****\ /\
/ \ /**\ Here there be dragons
/ /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\

There is no easy way to the top. The most important thing we can do is be
realistic about our own goals and make sure we don't try to tailor our
competitions to them! (I remember some fierce rule making battles in ECTRA
when one rider insisted that the baseline pulse and respirations were way
too low: translate -- for her horse!)

Consider the advantages of having our long distance sports provide careers,
not to mention new markets for our horses.

Who can answer why the Saudis (I think we are talking about the Sheiks of
the United Arab Emirates, not of Saudi Arabia -- you might enjoy the article
in Reader's Digest about racing Dromedaries -- same man as was buying
Arabian horses here a year or so ago) are willing to spend big $$ for
horses, especially since I believe it is against their religion to place
bets. You don't have to sell to them. I refused an offer from a Saudi
broker for one of mine. (I could have used the money, but that horse would
not have been happy. He has a loving owner now who has no idea what a
bargain she got!)

Who should decide whether or not rides will offer money? The riders. They
will either enter or not. I just hope that, prize money or not, we don't
ruin a sport that, till now, is the cheapest per mile or hour of any
equestrian sport.

There's room for $$, there's room for racing, there's room for smelling the
daisies. The most important thing is the well being of our horses. Are
they having fun? They should be!