|
|
[RC] Laura and her riders - Ridecamp Guest
Shepha Vainstein shephav@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
LAURA AND HER RIDERS
I am one of the Junior Riders who Laura Toston sponsored. I was also one of the volunteers who set up the trail markers. The Malibu Ride was my first endurance event. Our whole group of riders had been training for this race for many months. Each time before riding we brushed and cleaned our horses and after our weekly 3 hour ride we would wash them. If there is a question of whether these horses are mistreated, there is no doubt in my mind that they are not.
In the start of the Malibu Ride we walked down to where they started us off. We followed the right hand side of markers and at every turn we followed the yellow and black markers. We did not cut any trails. When coming up behind someone we would wait until there was a suitable place to pass him or her. I remember Laura saying specifically on two occasions, ?Guys, make sure you don?t cut the corner?. At the first vet check we got off and walked our horses in and gave our horses water and at my first P&R check my horse?s pulse rate came down to 15 right away. Then we had our horses checked at the vet and left about 20 minutes after that.
At one point one of our group members got stuck behind another rider that was not from our group. We kept on riding hoping that she would be able to pass them but they would not let her pass. But we were close enough to each other for her and Laura to call to each other. A woman riding right behind us with her 2 juniors kept on talking to Laura and telling her what to do in an extremely rude manner and tone that seemed disrespectful. Laura decided to wait for the member of our group that was behind the other riders, so we pulled over to the side of the trail to let the group behind us and the group holding up our group member, to pass us.
Laura told us that the whole point of taking the Malibu Ride together was to have fun as a team. Yes we did train really hard but there was never any pressure from Laura ?to win at any cost.? I was really surprised our group came in first. How can everyone say that our horses were overworked and mistreated if one of our group got Best in Condition? Can?t anyone believe that we worked really hard preparing for the ride and that our horses were well trained? To hear of all the negative things that people have said about Laura and her riders is really sad and it destroys all the time and hard work that Laura and our team has put into this ride.
Sarah Faith
Age 14
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|
|
|
|