Subject: [RC] something for money
Howard, Honey. Don't blame my post for your being clueless.
Ok, so you want to believe that there is no money in this sport and that it is pure and simple. Okee-doekey.
I am saying the money is already here. It may not be at the finish line, but people do not spend money for nothing. People don't need to have that cash prize as motivation to run their horse to the ground. Just the investment alone, (trailer, truck, saddles, etc.,) is enough to cause problems.
You said:
Just because they appear to have money certainly doesn't mean that they're at an endurance ride to run for more money. I thought they were riding for the same T-Shirt and top ten awards I was.
Howard, if they are riding here, there is no money, period. And quite a few of the riders don't even stay for the awards. I believe what I said was that fame is just as addicting as money. It doesn't take just money for people to make bad choices, fame can do it just as well. For some people, getting a few top tens makes them feel "known" and that maybe they have arrived. They like that feeling and will try to maintain it, even at the cost of their partner.
Do you honestly think that if a completion rate is low it is because the ride was tough? HUH? Duh, it is an endurance ride. It is suppose to be a challenge. That is an excuse. You think maybe the vets are too tough sometimes? They are just following the rules. If your horse is lame, he's lame. What is so tough about that? If the trail is that tough, SLOW DOWN. You have 12 hours to finish a 50 mile ride. That is a long damn time. If someone can't finish in 12 hours, there was no preparation made. If you want to race it and can't get past the first vet check, you were not prepared. (Not including accidents.)
If the horse is conditioned and prepared, why wouldn't more riders (and you!) be able to finish in 12 long hours?? Because people, including you, want to WIN, that's why. And they would rather haul ass and chance a pull, than to assess the situation and make smarter decisions to take it easy. And there is still no money at the finish line. Get it? How would having cash prizes make that much difference?
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It seems to me that you've already answered your own question. If things are as bad as you say they are (and I do think you are way off on this), if all those people are riding that hard so they become famous (I really don't get that one since endurance is still a very minor sport in the equine world), in addition to all those riders who are coming unprepared, you don't see that adding a cash prize instead of a T-Shirt will make all this worse? I mean, come on, with the fame you also get the money too, which seems to me to be doubling the incentive to push your horse too hard. And you don't think the money will cause some riders to push their unprepared horse even harder than they would for a T-Shirt?
When Tom Ivers was on Ridecamp I remember him saying that he can't play golf with Tiger Woods; why on earth should I expect to be able to compete in endurance against Valerie Kanavy? He made a very good point there and I guess I should not expect to be able to do such a thing. But, hey, guess what? Right now I can. And, that's the damn beauty of our sport. Maybe all the rest of you who want the money in the sport are right, like Mr. Ivers thought he was. Maybe, it's inevitable that my days of being able to ride with some of our more famous folks are numbered. We'll see. Till then I'll live in my naive little world, try and think pure thoughts about endurance and AERC and thank the Ride Managers (including you Lisa), the vets and the riders who make this sport what it is today. If ya'll want to make it separate into professional and amateur classes there's not much I can do about it except remember those good ole days when I got to experience Bearcat O'Reilly kicking sand in my face on that long sandy Florida trail.
As far as me finishing a ride, when I come up with why I'm not doing as well as I would like to I'll let you know. My point there was I haven't sold one of my horses because they got pulled, but thanks for reminding me of how well I am doing. I didn't realize you had such a handle on everything.
The thing about endurance is it's a tough sport. It's a challenge. That's what makes it so cool. If you think all rides are equal, all week-end endurance experiences are the same challenge and that weather conditions or ride terrain don't make some rides more difficult than others, than we certainly don't share the same endurance experiences. I don't think I'm the only one who might be clueless here.
There are tons of reasons for not getting a completion: I've written what amounts to a thousand page book on here describing some of them. But, I guess, you would just tell me I'm making excuses, which I probably will start doing sooner or later, sitting around drinking beer, after getting pulled, debating what exactly went wrong with my 800 dollar horse. It's kind of why we have a brain, to figure out what we can do to correct certain situations that don't go the way we would like. If I were to follow your advice I guess I might as well quit the whole ball game entirely or go back to just doing LDs. But, what the heck, I'll try it just one more time.
What any of this, as far as completion rates, has to do with money in endurance I have yet to figure, but I guess you were just making a transition, and I failed to make the connection. But since you want to discuss completions I did bother to dig this information out of last months Endurance News. According to AERC records, for the year 2000, nationally, lameness and metabolic pulls were 6% for LDs, 10% for 50, 55, and 60 milers and 25% for 100 milers. I guess my standards are not as high as yours because that does not sound all that terrible to me. In fact, it seems pretty darn good and no where near as bad as you were implying. Where, exactly, are you getting your facts from, or aren't you using any?
cya,
Clueless Howard (just when I think I'm finished with it all she keeps pulling me back in)
