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Re: [RC] [RC] Malik: - ll cole

I would agree more information, and certainly in a more timely fashion, is necessary to come to a logical conclusion. Requiring a couple hundred miles in LD or 50s before a horse can be entered in a 100 is not unreasonable.

But, if we're setting entry requirements for certain distances, shouldn't we look at the deaths during rides and review the horse's history up to that point. Are these first time endurance entries or horse and rider teams that have some miles in competition behind them. Just of late, the incidents that come to mind certainly weren't fresh out of the corral.

Barry Cole.

>From: "Howard Bramhall"
>To: "AERCMembersForum" ,"ridecamp"
>Subject: Re: [RC] Malik:
>Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 14:34:17 -0400
>
>Re: [RC] Malik:OK, before we get too carried away here, none of those ideas mentioned by Dane were meant in any way to be a new rule set by AERC. I don't think even Dane would want that. These are his ideas for endurance riders when bringing up their horse to get to the 100 mile level, which is real similar to the idea of LSD training.
>
>I'm merely suggesting that we might want to take a look at a prerequisite before allowing a rider to attempt a 100 miler at an AERC ride. Some rides seem to have these already and it's not really a bad idea. Why not make it a requirement for a horse to have completed 200 or 300 miles before attempting their first 100? Is that idea out of line? Doesn't it make sense to have some kind of proven ability before we allow a horse to attempt such a distance? As it stands now, we require nothing except that the horse be at least 5 years old.
>
>I am pretty strong on the idea of freedom and I don't like the idea of more rules. But, I like even less the idea of having the same number of horses dying at AERC rides at the rate of last year. What really scares me is the idea of losing the freedom altogether of attending an AERC ride because our inaction on this issue puts us all out of business.
>
>With all the stats flying around on Ridecamp and that other site, I haven't heard any answers to questions I'm having about most of this. What distance was the horse doing where he died at an AERC ride? Was it the 50, the 100 or the 25? HOw far did he go before he went down or the vet intervened? What ride was it? Has this happened at this ride before, and, if so, how often (what years?)?
>
>This information is not out there; or, if it is, I sure can't find it. When it's published in Endurance News it's usually a year or longer after the incident occurred. Aren't these the problems we were talking about last year before the convention? Isn't this why we have the Welfare of the Horse Committee in the first place? How on earth are we to learn anything if this information is not forthcoming?
>
>Is it mostly the 100 mile rides or the 50 mile rides where horses are getting into serious trouble? With the FEI rides, it seems to be the 100 miler since it's the main distance they compete in. What about the AERC rides? Why is the only information available the rumor and innuendo found via the Internet?
>
>If my worries about our sport are invalid, if most of you think nothing needs to be changed, everything's working perfectly fine, and these deaths are just a normal part of our sport that we have to learn to accept, than, please forgive me if I disagree. I don't think having a prerequisite before you compete 100 miles will set back AERC at all and it's just an idea. The main point I was trying to make is I do believe we need to make some changes. Changes based on information that should be more forthcoming and more available. This is how we learn and how we evolve. Something is happening here, and, we don't know what it is. Let's try and figure it out together.
>
>cya,
>Howard (hey, it wasn't me who caught that foul ball at the Cub's game)
> From: Tiffany D'Virgilio
> To: Howard Bramhall ; ridecamp ; AERCMembersForum
> Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 11:36 AM
> Subject: Re: [RC] Malik:
>
>
> on 10/17/03 8:11 AM, Howard Bramhall at howard9732@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>
>
> The point I'm trying to make is we need to do something here. Dane Frazier has suggested that a horse spend a year doing LD's before doing their first 50 miler. And, he adds that the horse should do a year of 50 milers before doing their first 100. I can hear the moans and groans over this idea but, if you stop and think about the best interests of the horse and the fact that things aren't really getting much better along the lines of horse deaths at endurance rides the way things are currently, you may decide it might be time for a change in this direction. We need to step up to the plate.
>
>
> I'll tell you what. If someone made me do a year of 25 milers before I could do a 50, I would never have gotten into this sport. I trained for 4 years on the same horse so that when I did enter a ride, I could do a 50, finish and be proud of it. I have NO desire to do a 25. I do that all the time at home. I have NO desire to enter a 25 mile RACE which is what many are, and I think the suggestion is insulting. A year of 25s? My horse's brain would be fried from watching all the racers by the end of that year. Some of us are not interested in doing 25 milers now. A whole year of them would be insufferable to me. Why should I do that if my horse and I are ready, conditioned and prepared to do a 50? Some people train the right way and would like to pursue the sport of endurance. How many riders are we going to lose if we impose that rule? Why do we always want to treat people like babies and spoon feed them everything? When are we going to rely on personal responsibility? It is the rider's responsibility to get their ho rse ready for the task at hand. It is part of this sport. We have committees to reprimand riders for doing the wrong thing. Hasn't part of this sport always been making people think instead of shoving everything down their throats? If I wanted a billion rules I would have gone back to showing. Some rules are great, some are not. A whole year of 25 milers is not a great way to start off in this sport. I LOVE that I can enter a multiday, a 100, a 75, a 50 OR an LD. What are we going to make it three seasons before you can ride a multiday?
> Howard you are always preaching about freedom. Well, so am I.
> Tiffany

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