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Re: [RC] who is captain of the ship - Barbara McCraryJoe, I have to agree with you. You see, I've been playing devil's advocate, just to see what people's reactions would be to the idea of eliminating awards for speed. So far, not many answers. But I believe you are right, that horses are going to die, no matter what we do...or don't do. Horses die just standing in their pastures. I don't particularly advocate eliminating time element on rides, but there has been so much talk about how speed kills, and who we have to do something about horse deaths, etc. etc. I just thought I'd toss out the idea of eliminating competition. Not many answers, but no one has really jumped on the idea. I just feel it doesn't do much good to complain or worry about status quo unless someone can come up with a better idea. Barbara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Long" <jlong@xxxxxxxx> To: "Barbara McCrary" <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Bob Morris" <bobmorris@xxxxxxxx>; "McGann, Barb" <BarbMcGann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 5:45 PM Subject: Re: [RC] who is captain of the ship If we adopted your "food for thought" scenario, with no speed-related awards of any kind, and no one raced in any way, horses would still sometimes die on rides. We will never eliminate equine deaths on distance rides (or any other organized activity with horses), all we can do -- and what a realistic goal needs to be -- is to minimize them. We could never eliminate racing, though. Even with no speed-related awards, some riders would still race each other, just for the fun of doing it. It's in the blood, it's in the history, it's in the tradition, and it's in the competitive nature of human AND horse. Endurance Rides are not *just* races, they are more than races, and not everyone wishes to race. But Endrurance Rides *ARE* races. Take that out and they won't be endurance rides. One of the most fundamental qualities of distance-riding sports is that they are competitions. And no matter how you slice and dice it, a competitive measure of endurance in a horse/rider team is not just going the distance, but doing so faster than the next horse/rider team. That is where the ultimate test of "quality" of the team lies. I am not apologetic that I am a rider who loves to race for First Place. I'm proud of the success I've had doing that, and I look forward to doing a lot more of it. If the only riders near me are in other weight divisions, no matter -- I'll race them anyway, for the sheer joy of it. BTW, for those who claim that there is no meaningful difference between endurance rides and LD rides -- that they are just different categories of the same experience -- this is the fundamental difference: this test of endurance QUALITY (with racing) requires more than 25 or 35 miles. Even 50 miles on an easy trail is not enough, but the AERC had to draw a line somewhere and we chose to draw it at 50 miles (70 to 80 miles is more like it, but the logistics weigh against that becoming our standard minimum endurance distance). -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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