Re: RC: Re: LD and BC

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

At 07:22 PM 7/5/00 -0700, Bette Lamore wrote:
It would be nice if there were 25's specifically
>geared towards the "I know not and know that I know nots" with lectures
>and workshops offered the day before the ride--- kind of a workshop
>environment. If anyone would like to put on such an event at my place, I
>have the facility plus I'm close to Montana De Oro--- a fabulous riding
>place where you can ride both on the beach and in the woods. Couldn't
>house HUNDREDS, but enough people to have a good size group. Email me if
>anyone is interested or has a similar idea. Looks like many of us could
>benefit.
>Bette

One of my goals over the next couple of years is to get my ARICP
certification in distance riding...and then hold "So You're Interested in
Endurance Riding..." workshops up here.  Besides general information, it
might give interested riders a chance to evaluate their readiness.  

I hear of riders doing their first rides with very little
education...they're enthusiastic, but they aren't even aware of what's
required or going to happen when they show up.  I studied like a fiend and
tried to practice what I would be expected to do before I went to my first
ride...and I still found the sequence of events a bit stressful and the
ride meeting still sounded a bit like a foreign language. ;-)  By the third
ride, I was feeling very comfortable with the jargon and much more
comfortable with the sequence of events.  

One of the reasons that I'd like to do an information workshop up here is
that I attended one in Oregon (put on by Heidi) before my first ride that
was a tremendous help.  I was very motivated -- partly because I had been
on ridecamp for a while and had assimilated enough information to know that
I needed a bunch more <g> -- and partly because I was dragging a bunch of
equally green riding students (who were counting on me to get them thru the
first rides) with me.  I'd like something available in this area (it's a
long ride to Oregon for a one day workshop <g>) because I *know* there are
quite a few interested riders in this area or future interested riders...if
for no other reason than the sheer size of the local horse population.  

If we're going to educate people before they leap in too deep and start
developing bad habits and practices or risk danger to their horse, there
has to be more education available.  This has to be at least to the point
of making the prospective competitor aware of what's required and what to
expect *before* they get talked into riding too far, too early in the game,
by someone who has long since forgotten what it's like knowing nearly
nothing about a sport...or by someone whose own personal approach, while
seemingly okay to the greenhorn, might actually be marginally dangerous and
egocentric.  

There is very little knowledge regarding endurance riding that is randomly
floating around out there in the world of horse shows or backyard riders.
(Altho I'm happy to see it starting to emerge a bit more.)  It isn't like
going to your first dressage show and screwing up a 5 minute Training Level
test because you didn't know all of the rules...you are hardly in danger of
really screwing up a good horse because of your lack of knowledge (mostly
in danger of a bad score and some pointed judging comments. ;-))  It's also
not like going to a poker ride or a very long sunny afternoon ride.
Endurance is not included in 4H, nor is it a discipline that is catered to
by tack shops.  It's tough to find a lot information and nearly impossible
to casually check out endurance saddles or supplies in the local tack store
or find an instructor that knows much about it -- and there is very little
random exposure to the general horse owner.  There are a couple of books
that occasionally show up in the tack shops, but that's about it!  Without
the internet and the luck of someone steering me towards ridecamp, I would
not have even known where to begin.  My own personal goal is to get the
information and education out there to the interested rider *before* they
start competing...and to initially interest riders who do not yet know
about this great discipline.  

I'll get off my soapbox now...;-)

Sue


sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.