Fundamental Differences in Motivation (was 3rd loop?)

[tina hicks <tina@liveonthenet.com>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net wrote:
I cannot EVEN imagine riding endurance this way.  Clearly the 
people who ride endurance in such areas (looping back to camp on
four times on the same 12.5 mile trail to get 50 miles in) are
motivated differently than I am.  

It begins to make sense now why people become obsessed by 
competition, awards, riding times, etc.  They don't go to rides
for the same reason that I do...I go for the trail.  If you go
for the trail, then all that other stuff is unimportant fluff.
Nice if you have it, but irrelevant in the scheme of things.  
===============
Kat, I usually find your posts thought provoking, well-written and
enjoyable but I can't be quiet on this one. You've drawn a pretty crass
correlation here I think. That people who do looping back to camp rides
are obsessed by miles, awards, etc...???? Hmmm....funny how a _large_
percentage of the high mileage/award receiving horse/rider combos are
from regions where they don't do back to camp loops. 

You also state that there's nothing wrong with those of us who continue
to do it even tho we don't have access to all kinds of spectacular trail
- how nice of you to give us your blessing and allow us lowly "loop back
to camp" riders to participate in your sport :).

So....you do this sport for the new trail. Well, I also go for the trail
even tho it's not always new trail. I go because I enjoy seeing other
people at the rides from season to season. I go because I want to see if
I can do better than on the last ride -_whatever_ my idea of better is.
I go because completing a ride is an accomplishment. I go because I
don't have access to 4 or more complete checks on my horse by a vet on a
training ride. I go because nothing beats the feeling of trucking down
the last 5 miles of trail on a horse with tons of energy. 

I go because I just like to be out on my horse on trails. I go because I
don't know any other way to endurance rides other than looping back to
camp. Do I sometimes wish our rides were like yours where every segment
is different? Sure, that would be great - but that's not the way it is
here so I do it the way it's offered.

I have 1000 miles in 5 years of doing this, a small handful of top tens,
one BC, the rest are middle to back of the pack finishes. Obviously, I
am NOT doing it for the miles, awards, or because I am obsessed by the competition.

You're right Kat, we are all motivated differently in a pretty
fundamental way - some us see more than just one facet of the sport.

Tina

And you needn't worry about trailering to the SE for any rides either -
you wouldn't like it here :)