Terry Woolley Howe did an excellent job of explaining the reasons the AERC
NC Qualifications are such a hot issue. I agree 100% with her
analysis. Everyone seems to forget the AERC NC's are only 3 years old,
they are still undergoing growth pains, and they are put on with 100% of the
financial risk on the shoulders of the Ride Management. The first year the
entire event had 37 total entries, year 2 saw the event grow to the mid 90's in
entries...yet both years the event lost money. Last year the event
continued to grow, but it still barely broke even. The best way to kill
off an endurance event is for the management to lose money.
That being said, I am in favor of the increased qualification
standards...but I am not in favor of implementing them in 2003, not 2002, since
there has been no Official Notice to the AERC Membership, and the
qualifying period began in August, 2001. It would be a tremendous
setback to this event if it shrunk rather than grew..based on whether the
qualifying standards should be in place this year or next year. Some
say the Midyear BOD Minutes printed in the December issue of EN suffice
for notice, yet in bold print above the Minutes is the following:
"NOTE: These minutes have not yet been approved by the
Board. Any corrections and additions will be published in a subsequent
issue of Endurance News."
I want the AERC NC to succeed as much, or more, than anyone. I
invested two years of my time and finances into the first two events to
make them work and I know the effort needed to make them successful. The
AERC NC needs to continue to grow, the management needs to be able to at least
break even..making a profit is even better. This is a premier endurance
event, it showcases great horses and great riders..assisted by great
crews. We employ some of the best endurance vets in the world as the ride
veterinarians and they certainly have the best interest and welfare of the
horses in mind as the judge the ride. The thrill and excitement of the
event is not lessened by the existing standards, and it will be even more
thrilling when they are increases..but that increase needs to be implemented in
a timely fashion with all the factors in mind to keep the event growing and
successful.
I was glad to see John Bass's comments on this subject since he and his
daughter were successful entrants of the 2000 AERC NC and know on a
personal level what it means.
Kathy,
Thank you for your input. What has transpired to
cause John to put forth
that motion was that at the mid year meeting when we
met and one of the
things passed was the motion to toughen up the criteria
for entry into the
championship ride. As chairman of the competitions
committee, I also felt
that the previous entry criteria was way too soft and
the championship did
not mean as much if everyone could qualify, so I was
much in favor of
tightening up the qualifications. Here is
where the problem came in. We
passed the tougher qualifying criteria,
but the problem was that the mid
year board meeting was not until November
and after the meeting many of the
board members felt that the membership did
not have ample notice of the new
criteria and by the time the new criteria
was out to the membership, we
would already be 5 months into the qualifying
period and many thought that
was not fair, and felt that the membership
should know well before the start
of
the qualifying period what the
qualifications were going to be.
So then the
haggling
among the board started on whether the new criteria should be in
effect this
year or wait until next year so that the riders had ample time
to
qualify. While I believe that the criteria should be tougher, I can
see
that the argument for waiting until next year so that the members have
the
full year to qualify is valid.
John Parke, who is an
attorney, and did not like the board going back and
forth on
something
that had already passed, indicated that he was going to put forth
a motion to
do away with all qualifying criteria. I don't feel that
this
will pass (although I could be wrong), and I hope that the
board will
vote to keep the same qualifying criteria as last year in place,
and have
the new tougher criteria be in place for the qualification period
starting
in August so that the riders will have the entire year to qualify
under the
tougher criteria.
I hope this addresses your
concern.
Terry Woolley Howe
Pacific South Regional
Director
Competititons Chairman
> Dear AERC
Directors,
>
> Kathy Myers here. I am writing to let you know
that I am not very happy
about the idea of removing the increased
qualifications put in place for the
AERC NC rides. I think the
qualifications put into place for this year are
right on the target.
They reward anyone who has miles and logevity with the
same horse.
Endurance is about making it in the long run, not just on a
single
day.
>
> If I remember right, when the new NC rides were introduced
a couple years
ago the intent to move toward stiffer qualifications as the
years went by
was announced along with the rides. I guess people tend
to forget.
>
> I support the new stiffer qualifications. I
support the move toward
looking for riders and horses with longevity and a
history together. I
think the new qualifications are fair. I do
not think that the new
qualifications are locking anyone out of the ride that
should otherwise be
there. I think riders in our AERC National Championship
rides should have to
qualifiy to be there.
>
> I understand there
has been a few people discussing this via the web. I
think that the few
who have been vocal do not necessarily reflect the entire
membership. I
think that those who agree with the new qualifications didn't
see any point
in writing or expressing their view.
>
> Perhaps with the proposal
just announced and put in front of the board at
the convention later this
week, this has changed. Those of us who agree
with the new stiffer
qualifications need to speak up and let you know that.
Thanks for your time
and consideration,
>
>
> Kathy Myers
> AERC
#14992
> Santa Fe, NM
>
magnumsmom@aol.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp
is a service of Endurance Net,
http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer:
http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=