Letter French Federation to FEI

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

>  is not made only for the purpose of media> coverage 

Leonard, thanks for explaining. I couldn't quite grasp what the original
post was trying to tell us.  I agree with others that worrying about
media coverage is detrimental to the quality of the event.  I'll go
further and say that even trying to make it "an event" for a certain
town, region, etc. is detrimental.  Our audience is worldwide...first in
the endurance community, second in the horsemen's community.  

When the Race of Champions was held in the middle of nowhere nobody
worried about trying to get the locals enthusiastic about it... but
endurance riders in all areas of the country were.  As far as reaching
out to other horsemen who do not compete in endurance, I believe the best
way is with good magazine articles or a well edited coverage of the
event, condenced into a one hour program with plenty of interviews...not
footage of them trotting down cobblestone streets through towns. You also
said:

> longer> distance in case of fast speed, shorter for slower speed... the
> concept is> the presumed speed of the first riders, not the distance.

Granted, it is nice to see a vet check every two hours or so, but I hope
people who compete at front runner speeds on international events will be
consulted as to what they feel is safe.  I know that when I'm on a really
fast race I like mandatory stops where my horse can get a chance to eat,
because the people running with you sure as heck aren't going to stop
unless they have to.  It's just nice to have a "time out" where everyone
gets a chance to tank up.  Sounds like they're awful worried about
getting the front runners in before dark.  Making super fast races 100
miles and more reasonably paced ones 80 seems a little backwards as far
as what they do to the horse.

Angie
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