And I
bet the average AERC member's age is going up. Might be a connection.
I
think the US is unique in the world in this respect. Other countries have a much
younger crowd of competiive riders. And greater market driven incentives for
riders, trainers, breeders - top horses can be worth a lot of money. And
there is a different world of trainers and 'jockeys' in other parts of the
world. Again, driven by the market for top horses.
It
will be very interesting to see where the sport is in 20 years! Both here
in the US, and the in rest of the world. Any guesses??
Steph
-----Original Message----- From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
goearth Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 11:54 AM To:
Ridecamp Subject: [RC] 100's
Dag Gone if that wasn't a small grenade. When the
Modern Day Sport of Endurance was created by Wendall Robie, it was a one day
100 miles and they called it Endurance. When FEI took it up on the
International level it was a one day 100 miles. Looking at the
Newsletter of the Carolina 100 results... i see that there were 17 starters w/
5 finishers and that is one of the easier managable courses in the country and
there used to be 50-60 starters. Looking at the graph of my first 100 in
1977 the OD i see that there were 46 starters and 32 finishers and lately the
OD hasn't even had that many to start. So when we were dumb and didn't
have the selection of horse or tools like heart moniters, gps, electrolytes,
saddles or shoe knowledge the OD in 1977 had a 69% completion ratio while the
Carolina in 2002 had 29%. The AERC membership has more than doubled
during that time. So my questions are? Where did those 100 milers
go and why? What do these #'s say about the Sport of Endurance
today? I know everything is relative and sometimes just to get out of
bed in the morning can be a test of endurance and i honestly mean no offense
to anyone. 25 years ago Tommy Lewis rode Spiderman on his first 100 and
this year his son Cliffie rode Spiderman on his first 100 and people are
calling for rule changes. How far have we come or how far have we come
away? "to every side there is another side" tom
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