Re: Just my Opinion- and this is really long!

[Connie Hoge <connieh@aa.net>]

Did you notice that Rattlesnake Ridge appears in the 99 calendar of the latest
edition of Endurance News?
Connie H.

CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com wrote:

> Dear Randy--
>
> In a message dated 98-11-30 12:28:10 EST, you write:
>
> << As to the comments on AERC losing rides, this is not exactly right,
>  either.  There have been a few cancellations of rides in Washington as a
>  "protest" to an Appeal of a protest..but there will be new rides
>  replacing these older ones..and I believe part of the cancellations were
>  due to burnout and loss of private land use. >>
>
> 1)  Several of the new WA rides would have come along even if the old ones had
> kept going.
>
> 2)  The ride managers are far from "burned out".  They are heartsick about
> this, and would love to continue to put on their rides.
>
> 3)  The loss of private land use occurred as a direct result of AERC's action
> in the Henslee protest and from statements made by the insurance carrier about
> the allowance of known unsafe horses to participate; hence loss of private
> land use was not an issue before the fact.
>
> You are, however, quite correct that the loss of these five rides really has
> nothing to do with the AERC decision to charge non-member fees to LD riders.
> That IS the straw on the camel with my own LD's, and I will make my own
> statement by not offering LD's for now, sanctioned or otherwise.  We will
> instead have separate events that are CTR's and are sanctioned by an
> organization other than AERC--in our case, we will be sanctioning with IAHA.
> I know that you, better than many on the BoD, understand that being a ride
> manager is very much a free-enterprise situation.  I feel that this is the
> only move I can make under the circumstances.  To be honest, though, it is a
> move I have contemplated for a long time.  I have long felt that the Midwest
> was on the right track with this format, and we won't know until we try.  I DO
> know that a lot of folks here are simply choosing not to join over a lot of
> this, and I think it is sad that AERC does not recognize this.
>
> BTW--I don't mean any of this to demean what you have done in securing the
> sponsorship from Sundowner for subsidizing new memberships--that is really
> terrific and you deserve nothing but kudos for it.
>
> Heidi