Re: Introductory rides, response, long, sorry!

["S. Brown" <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

Virginia said:
>    Terre, in response,  here in Southern Idaho, we have historically
>offered an unsanctioned "schooling" format in the form of 10-15 mile
>pleasure rides, run concurrently with our sanctioned distances.  These
>"schooling" rides are advertised as fun, safe trail rides over a measured,
>marked course with veterinary control, and the opportunity to view
>first-hand actual endurance riders at the longer distances.  Participants
>are required to sign in, pay a nominal fee(in the neighborhood of ten
>dollars), and present their equine to the vet for a cursory exam.  They
>could start their ride within a given time window and take whatever time
>necessary to complete.  After completion, they again presented their horse
>to the vet and were then recognized at the regular awards ceremony with a
>simple reading of names of those who rode the pleasure ride, a token
>certificate or small award, with no placings of any kind.


I would like to comment on the pleasure rides from the viewpoint of a
"newbie" to endurance but a long term experienced horse(wo)man.  I teach
Recreational Riding and classical dressage basics at my place.  In my
effort to find a source of computer list information that was a bit more
relevant than "My last lesson was so coooool!", I was referred to Ridecamp.
 I was immediately impressed by the level of expertise on this list...and
was shortly hooked on the concept of endurance riding... it fit so well
into the picture that was already being established since I spent a fair
amount of time in the Washington "hills" as well as in the arena.  This
last year I had gone thru a shift of horses and had to pull two off of the
pasture for training as schooling horses.  I also started conditioning them
for the trails while they assumed positions as schooling horses in the
arena -- so they were somewhat green to the trails at the start of this
season.  They did beautifully.  (And will be ready to start competition
next spring.)

As part of our education in endurance riding, I had planned to go (as an
observer (with a student)), to the Bully Wully.  It was on a holiday
weekend and I was already "on call" at the hospital, so I found someone to
cover my call for a few hours.  Then I discovered that they were having a
"fun run" and we would have enough time to actually ride and get the
protocol first hand rather than just observing.  I had ridden many times in
this area and was pretty familiar with the terrain so we could concentrate
on a bit more on how things were run.  We knew what to expect (did our
homework ;-)) but wanted to it go thru it first hand in preparation for
next season.  We had a great time, learned a lot of what we wanted to know,
met some very nice people from the area, and the horses got all As so we
knew we were on the right track (both horses *came in* with pulses of 60!)
I now have several students that are *very* interested in starting
competition next year...and they will probably become members of AERC.
(I'm already a member.)

This is what I felt the "fun runs" were meant to do -- introduce those that
are interested in the sport to a short distance with all the players in
place.  Since my area in Washington has an enormous amount of horses and
some pretty impressive trails, there are a lot of riding clubs that put on
"poker rides" or an equivalent...so there's no shortage of rides that are
nicely managed, well marked, well attended, and cheap (and many of them at
the Les Hilde trails, where the Bully Wully is held.)  We showed up at an
*endurance ride* because we were interested in doing actual endurance
riding -- so, even tho we had ridden the area many times before, we had not
gone thru P&Rs, vet checks, and such.  

I was surprised to find out that you didn't have to pay non-member fees --
having come from being involved in dressage shows, I was quite used to the
feeling of "if you want to play in our game and you're not in the club, you
have to pay a little extra."  It was just an accepted thing.  Since I've
usually been a member of the organizations sponsoring or sanctioning the
shows, I can't recall what the non-member fees were (except for the
schooling shows that I where I was the GM)...but I *do* feel that $10 is a
bit high. 

And now...out to the barn!! ;-)

Sue




sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.