RE: RE: RE: Worlds Most Preferred--Really?

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

Truman, I'd agree that endurance racing in the UAE is being approached in a
professional manner just as flat racing is approached in a professional
manner. How many flat racers breed, ride and train their own horses? How
many standardbred owners (outside of the fun farm tracks that I used to
frequent as a grad student in the Amish area of Ontario) drive their own
rigs? Not that many. Breeders breed, trainers train and jockeys ride or
drive. That's professional horse racing. That's ok. But is that what you
want to do? And is the idea of the Olympics the competition of professional
sportsmen? The fact is that is what many Olympic sports are today, and if
endurance gets into the Olympics it will be a spectator version of the
sport. Riders always have the choice of competing as amateurs or
professionals (assuming they can come up with the bucks) and sometimes
amateurs win. It is a matter of choice and priorities.

A group of us were riding today and discussing the upcoming race here and
the recent race in the UAE. The 100 km in Egypt will be held in the same
place as the last 4 or 5 rides.....a fact that is beginning to bore the hell
out of a lot of us, including our horses. There are more interesting places
to ride, but they involve tricky footing and logistics. Maybe someday we
will be able to try them out. But we decided that there seemed to be two
different attitudes in endurance right now. One is to go out and see how
well you and your horse can do as a team, up to and including beating
everyone else, and having a good time at it. And this one includes seeing if
the son of a favourite mare and an interesting stallion is going to come up
to scratch someday. The other one seems to be based on "the last man
standing" and seems to be more "professional" and a bit harder on the
pocketbook.  I tend to lean towards the former, and not just because I have
a day job that takes up more time than I like or because my horses are still
on rehab, but coming back with a good possibility of at least limited
distance up to 80 km next year. I like training my horses in the countryside
where they may have to jump an irrigation ditch, or come to a screaming halt
due to a flock of sheep or water buffalo or even kids playing along the
road. I like to have to think about more than who's in front or who's in
back. This kind of riding will never make serious Gulf-style endurance, but
boy would I like to take some of them on a 20 km through the
villages....where part of the trip is being able to ride through, not step
on the ducks and say hello to everyone and their grandmother at the same
time. I guess there's endurance and there's endurance...each to his own.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net
TI hit it on the head when he brought up the fact that in the UAE and
probably
much of Europe this is becoming a professional sport!  Many of these
countries
have government sponsorship for their riders!   Is the US going to compete
with
this - or should I say is the US going to compete with this with FEI under
the
wings of the AERC?  I the US ever going to get Government support for it's
equestrian team - nope it's not our way. I don't know but it's a question
that
should be asked and answers found using logic, not emotion. It does seem
that the
US has not kept pace with the emergence of the sport on the FEI level. It
seems
that there is insufficient infrastructure to support the US riders - not to
mention funding - compared to the UAE and the Europeans. Our riders are for
the
most part amateurs - not they they are not good - but that the sport is not
a
significant part of their daily life. Of course there are a exceptions to
this.

I believe that until these issues are addressed we are not going to be able
to
take a position of dominance in FEI endurance. Is it up the the AERC to do
this or
should to the riders establish the necessary infrastructure under a
different
sturcture?   While the AERC may seem a logical candidate, there is
absolutely
nothing wrong for a sport to be organized at the amateur level and the
professional level by two different organizations, for example the NCAA or
AAU for
amateur athletics and the NBA, NFL, NHL, etc. for professional counterparts.

And to address Jim's comments I do not believe personally that we need to
change
the rules of the game because of what people see going on in FEI rides. If
you
look at the AERC it has something for everyone - for the rider who wants to
rack
up miles, the rider that can only get out and do a few rides a year (maybe
even
LDs), for the family who sees this a good family activity and yes for the
racer.
In the FEI world there are basically the racers!  While maybe 10 to 20
percent of
riders at a backyard AERC ride are "racers", more like 99% that go to FEI
events
are racers. There is nothing wrong with that, but that fact should not drive
AERC
to change any rules that would impact our bread and butter, the backyard
rides. I
ask you is Trilby a very deserving member of the AERC Hall of Fame? A also
ask you
- unless she changed - would she ever make a good FEI candidate?  Different
outlook on the sport, neither is superior to the other and both deserve to
be
rewards under the AERC tent.

Cheers
Truman

Jim Holland wrote:

> I have followed this thread with great interest and I agree with
> Debi...but I also agree with Bob.  It all depends on where you stand
> when you view the situation.  The one thing that has not been mentioned
> is the perspective of others when they look at our sport.  If I ever
> feel that this sport is not dominated by people who care deeply about
> the welfare of their horses and mostly do this simply "For Love of the
> Game", I'm outta here.  If Debi's post were to be published in the local
> PETA propaganda, what would the lay person see?  This is our sport and
> it is our responsibility to regulate it and insure that it continues to
> grow.
>
> Perhaps it's time to look at the way we "win".  "Win" is defined by the
> rules of the game.  If you change the rules, you get another definition
> of the same thing.  Maybe Endurance should move toward more of a team
> sport?  Something to think about. If you could change the rules, what
> would you do differently? Can we keep it competitive, fun, and avoid the
> inevitable clash over horse abuse?


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=