Ridecamp: [RC] [Guest] Young Riders/Sponsors

Karen Nelson knelson@xxxxxxxxxx

Merryben and all-  For those of you who have enjoyed your endurance rides 
with only yourself or other adults for company, you have no idea how 
difficult and mind-bending it CAN be for a sponsor of a 
junior(s).  Merryben and Karen Chaton have often sponsored not just ONE 
junior, but multiple juniors in the same ride.  I have sponsored a prior 
junior- taking him from no riding experience at all to 1990 National Junior 
Champion.  Riding the ride is sometimes the easiest part.  You are only 
responsible for keeping the little dickens within 30 seconds or so of you, 
and you have to keep track of their card(s), as juniors are not allowed to 
carry their own and possibly leap-frog thru the pack.  I provided the horse 
and tack for my junior, as Merryben often does.  This is also more 
pressure, as you have to pray that both horses pace well together and both 
are prepared and conditioned to complete the ride.  If the sponsor gets 
pulled for any reason, you have to find another sponsor in the middle of 
the event so that you keep the dissappoint of the junior to an absolute 
minimum.
What hasn't even been discussed is all the preparation, packing, loading, 
unloading, setting up camp for multiple horses where sometimes the junior 
is so small or young that they are incapable of helping you, so everything 
excalates in your level of responsibility.  Often the parent does not 
attend the event, so you must have proper papers with you in case of junior 
getting injured- specially in another state. Selection of rides that 
reflect the ability of the junior so that you don't overload them and 
discourage them from the git-go counts, also.
On Oct 5 2002, I "sponsored" 3 adults on their first ever endurance event 
at Comstock in Nevada.  We rode the 15 mile "Learn How" ride, and I hauled 
3 horses, provided one completely tacked horse to one rider, a fair amount 
of tack to the rider who hauled his own horse, and all but the bridle to 
the other rider who was riding a horse that I arranged for her to feed 
lease from another well experienced endurance rider so that she can 
determine if this is the sport for her before she starts the great horse 
search that we all have been thru.  Packing, unpacking, setting up, 
preparing supplement bags for horses, determining who likes what to eat and 
drink, assuring them that they could do this, etc,etc,etc.
The ladies who traveled with me did their fair share of the work and they 
learned the value of many layers of sleeping blankets for desert 
nights.  All 4 of us finished in good shape.  The rider who hauled his own 
horse is recovering from  March ACL surgery and a diagnosis from his doctor 
that he may never ride a horse again was sore, but full of pride for his 
effort.  I personally rode a 23 y/o gelding who did his last 50 over 2 
years ago.  Had to pull him out of the pasture when my intended mare kept 
taking bad steps and I didn't want to get pulled at the mid vet check and 
leave these 3 on their own.  Did they NEED a "SPONSOR"?  Perhaps not. The 
ride was extremely well marked and ALMOST EVERYONE asked if they could help 
them and if they were having a good time.  But they had a great time and so 
did I. BTW- One of ladies made the comment about how many riders asked if 
she was having a good time.  She said that in over 20 years of riding 
hunter jumpers and showing she NEVER ONCE was asked if she was having a 
good time.
As for the damage to legs, bones, ligaments, etc.of young riders, I can 
only wonder what damage is happening to the youth who spend most of their 
lives on the couch watching TV.  There will never be a large enough thank 
you for the Merrybens and Karen Chatons of AERC who go out of their way to 
support new and often young riders.  Karen Nelson #4299   


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