Re: Lewis Family Response

[KKLLFARMS@aol.com]

Well, here I go. I don't read Endurance News or Ridecamp because it 
frustrates me to read so many opinions and advice from people who have ridden 
2 or three rides and have become authorities on everything.  Instead of 
learning how to ride and about horses, they are fresh out of the sandbox, yet 
want to educate others on the college level
Kathy has been giving me printouts of Ridecamp postings.  I wish I hadn't 
read them, but its too late now and I can't stay out of it.
My son Tom and I have very close since his birth.  He has always wanted to go 
everywhere with me.  In 1974 when he was 3, I had a riding stable at the 
Mount Rose Ski Lodge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  At this age he rode 
into the mountains with me, taking people on fishing trips to Price's Lake.  
Soon he was accompanying me on long training rides as I conditioned endurance 
horses.  It was much more fun than the baby-sitter.  His first endurance ride 
was the Endurance Digest 35.  He had just turned 5, but it was not a feat to 
see if he could do it, he had already done it in training.
When it came to the Virginia City 100, it was the same.  We had already 
ridden all day long many times, and all night long on several occasions. When 
we finally did the ride, he had the same problems we all experience.  After 
riding 84 miles and sitting in a comfortable chair with a turkey sandwich for 
an hour, he fell asleep.  But sleepy and tired as he was, there was no doubt 
he wanted to finish.
Little Cliffy also wants to go everywhere with his dad.  In order to take 
Cliffy with him as he went out walking and jogging in the mornings, he put 
him on old Spiderman and took him along.  That's how Cliff got his start.  
Soon they began short training rides.
The base camp of the Comstock ride is only about a mile from where we held 
the Endurance Digest Ride (Tom's first), and where we lived at the time. He 
knows every inch of the trail like he knows the back of his own hand.  On the 
Comstock 25, Cliffy never went for more that a few miles without seeing his 
mother waiting for him in the pickup.  Tom and Cliffy went slow enough that I 
was able to finish the 50, and be there to see them cross the finishline side 
by side with huge smiles on their faces.  I was so choked up, it was hard to 
keep from breaking down in front of everyone.  It was wonderful beyond words. 
 Cliffy was on cloud nine the rest of the day as were we all.
To come home and read some of the mean spirited trash put forth by Karen 
Sullivan and others was hard to take.  I doubt they know much about the 
sport, horses, riding or anything else.  If they did, they would be out 
training their horses to compete with us rather than leaning on a computer 
running their mouths,
My son and I have about 25,000 miles of competition experience.  My son Tom, 
Cliffy's father, has earned a 1200 mile buckle from the Virginia City 100.  
When he won his 1000 mile buckle at the age 15, the youngest person to have 
accomplished that feat at the time was 35 years old.
In closing I would like to say that I have been around since before the AERC. 
 Phil Gardner and I were partners in a snowmobile rental business and we had 
often talked about starting a national endurance organization.  We started 
with only 5 sanctioned rides, and things do not seem to have improved by 
adding more.  It does seemed to have driven off so many real endurance riders 
and replace them with wannabe lawyers.  Every time something new comes up, 
these people want a new rule.  That is how THEY win.  If you drag everyone 
else down to your level and eliminate the ones you cannot drag down using 
multitudes of rules, you haven't really gotten very high, it just looks that 
way!
Sincerely, Cliff Lewis