ridecamp@endurance.net: "Much to do" from who?

"Much to do" from who?

Randy H Eiland (renegade12@juno.com)
Thu, 11 Sep 1997 11:00:21 -0700

Years ago Cliff Lewis wrote an editorial in his Trail Digest Magazine
referring to his opinion as to a qualifications for AERC Director...the
gist of it was, " a Director should have a minimum of 5,000 miles of
endurance riding, on several different horses, as some of us have been
blessed with that one great horse that gets it done regardless of the
rider, etc. etc...." Now, I am not bringing this up in reference to
Directors, but rather, in reference to what I think Cliff was trying to
say.

I believe Cliff's article was attempting to say that you need experience,
and lots of it, to be a good representative and to make good decisions as
to our chosen sport. I think this holds true for both Directors who
represent us and for those individuals who go public with their own
agendas and "incite" opinions. Based on this, there are two recent
points of discussion that are ongoing in this list that I have, and will
once again, address.

As I stated in a previous post regarding the BC Evaluations, I think
they have been well thought out and, for the most part, are used in a
correct and fair manner. At it's best the veterinary portion of the BC
Evaluation is a subjective judgement based upon personal opinions of
individual Vets... and just because you may not agree with the Vet's
opinion does not make the Vet's opinion wrong, nor does it make the BC
Evaluation obsolete. Most of the time it works and the Right Horse wins
BC, in spite of some opinions that have been expressed here.

Obviously abuse is totally unacceptable whether in endurance or in the
backyard. However, I just don't think it happens very often in our
sport. I see around 750 horse/rider teams just in the rides I put on
during the year, not counting the rides we got to that are put on by
other ride managers, and I feel very comfortable saying I have not seen
this "abusive over riding" that has been discussed in the list. We have
heard from Terry Wooley-Howe with a similar opinion, and from Lynn
Golemon with the same observation. I have served as the Sanctioning
Director for the SW Region for 6 years, on the P&G Committee for 5 years,
currently Chair the Sanctioning Committee, and was Chairman of the Ride
Manager's Committee for several years. All of these positions would be
privy to any widespread abuse, and even the occasionally abuse, if it
were happening in situations and occurrences as alluded to in the
ridecamp posts.
I believe Endurance Riding, thru AERC, is the best horse sport in the
world and I further believe, I know, our horses "run" under the most and
best protection of any horse sport in the world.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I fully encourage people to
express opinions. At the same time, I would be interested in knowing how
much time, experience and miles those who express strong opinions and
agendas actually have.

Randy Eiland
15 years, 5,300+ miles and over 16,000+ miles as a family, and lots of
experience


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