Re: RE: Endurance in the Olympics

["Jessica Spoone" <lady_selene@hotmail.com>]

>> most of us don't want to dress up like we're going to the prom to get on
>> our horse and ride 50 or 100 miles

>>What is required is a proper dress, this doesn't mean you have to look
like >>one of the show-jumpers. But this also means some clean dress, not
dribbled >>by someone who saw naked sunbathers on the trail.

Excuse me??? Are you implying that AERC are low class slobs? Thats what it
sounds like to me. I can guarantee that we all wear clean clothes at each
ride... may not look like it at the end but we are in the beginning! And as
for proper dress.... what makes FEI the gods of how to dress? In AERC we
dress as we are most comfortable, be it in jeans and a t shirt or in
breeches with a nice shirt. They don't try to shove a bunch of nonsense
rules down our throats. I can understand the reasons behind FEI's rules.. if
you are competing internationally you need to look nice because your
representing your county. I have no desire at this time to represent my
country like that so I stick with AERC. If FEI people (not all of them)
would stop holding themselves superior it would make for a more enjoyable
sport.

Jessica + Casino

----- Original Message -----
From: Wolfgang Schwingenheuer <wsabg@t-online.de>
To: <Howard4567@aol.com>; <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 12:45 PM
Subject: RC: RE: Endurance in the Olympics


> > Wofgang:
> >
> > I beg to differ with ya here.  FEI rules are quite different from
> > AERC rules.
> >  I understand quite well that FEI is king when it comes to International
> > Equestrian sports.  And, even though, when I mention FEI, I am
> > speaking of
> > the endurance aspect (I do believe they separate the different types of
> > events within FEI), I understand that FEI means "show ring."
> > This is a big problem with me.
>
> You don't understand! FEI doesn't mean "show ring". FEI means
"International
> Equestrian Sport at Top Level". Show ring in most cases isn't Top Level,
> it's just a Show, Glamour, Bluff.
>
> > Wolfgang, where you live, it seems to me, y'all don't have much choice.
> > There is no German, Belgium, French, or other separate set of rules to
> > follow; all of you ride under FEI, and I can understand you
> > defending it as you do.
>
> Again you are wrong! Inform yourself better before yakking around. We do
> have our national rules, 99% of our rides are held under those rules. The
> Belgium and French, the Netherlands, Danish etc., they all (or most of
them)
> do have their national rules and organisations. If I ride a national 100
> mile ride, it could be that the post-ride inspection of my horse is on the
> previous day, for example. If this is the right choice, could be (and was)
> discussed. If I don't like this, I don't ride that ride and look for a FEI
> ride instead.
>
>
> > I really do think there are huge differences between FEI and
> > AERC.  They have
> > all been mentioned here on ridecamp before.  The fact is the
> > majority of AERC
> > members do not want FEI rules taking over.
>
> So sure about that???
>
> > I'm purty sure of that; most of
> > us don't want to dress up like we're going to the prom to get on
> > our horse and ride 50 or 100 miles.
>
> No one says you have to dress up. What is required is a proper dress, this
> doesn't mean you have to look like one of the show-jumpers. But this also
> means some clean dress, not dribbled by someone who saw naked sunbathers
on
> the trail. But you are not pulled if your dress gets dirty, don't worry.
>
> > My contention is, once Olympic Fever hits, things will change.  American
> > riders will want to convert to FEI so they get a shot at riding
> > for the Gold
> > in the Olympics.  And when that happens, all the rides I go to now, will
> > start becoming FEI sanctioned.
>
> You can't convert to FEI! It not possible for an individual to become
member
> of the FEI. In fact you have to member of your national federation or
> conference or whatever you have in your country. And again don't worry:
The
> numerb of FEI sanctioned rides will not increase that drastically. As I
> wrote above, nearly 99% of our national rides are non-FEI. Let it become
> 90%, maybe 80%. This is still (and will be in the USA) a big number of
rides
> one can go.
>
> > And why?  Because some Sheik in UAE deems it to be this way.  He has the
> > funds and the will power to make it happen; his dream of riding
> > for that Gold
> > medal will become fulfilled.  And the rest of us just have to
> > deal with it.
>
> No one forces you to anything. Ride your AERC rides and you are fine. But
> let others (americans, too) the freedom to choose whether they like to cut
a
> piece of that cake. I enjoy the hospitality of H.H. General Sheik
Mohammed,
> I did it two times now. And I really prefer dancing with him and all the
> members of the worldwide endurance family, the luxury of being invited to
> visit a country for free instead of listening to drunken old man with the
> breath of too much beer.
>
> > Someday, Wolfgang, I will let this go.  Someday, I will, most
> > likely, throw
> > in the towel and just say, "I give up."  Till then, I'd like the
> > freedom to
> > speak what's on my mind concerning all this.  I hope you can
> > tolerate me for
> > a little while longer. It seems I don't have much time left; it's gonna
> > happen and I'm either going to have to adjust to it or get out.
>
> You got all the freedom you like. But don't try to force others to agree
> with you, don't put words in their mouth they won't speak. Speak for
> yourself and you are fine. But you are not the national voice of AERC,
> right?
>
> > cya,
> > Howard (believe it or not, this Florida redneck did spend 3 years
> > in Germany;
> > Ramstein Air Base, courtesy of US Air Force.  Too bad I wasn't doing
> > endurance back then)
>
> The only memory I have on Ramstein was that terrible accident where a lot
of
> people lost their lives.
>
> Wolfgang
>
> P.S.: It' very interesting to see the numbers of emails I got as a reply
to
> my first posting. All of them from America, all of them like "well said,
> thank you"...
>