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Re: [RC] What's in a name? - Joe LongOn Sat, 1 Nov 2003 14:44:31 -0800, "David LeBlanc" <dleblanc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Joe said: ... an LD ride is not an endurance ride. Challenging for some people, and some horses, yes -- but not an endurance ride. The funny thing is that all these rides are sanctioned by the American _Endurance_ Ride Conference. We're members of the American _Endurance_ Ride Conference. Seems to me that a casual observer would say that we're all doing _endurance_ rides. It isn't the American Endurance and Newbie Training Ride Conference. You're making too much out of the name. The AERC was established to promote and sanction endurance rides, and we added an LD program to provide better safety for the horses competing in the short rides held in conjunction with many endurance rides. That is why LD rides are only sanctioned by AERC if they are held in conjunction with an endurance ride, because it is endurance rides that are the mission of AERC. Which makes the point, BTW, that it would make no sense for the American *Endurance* Ride Conference to sanction LD rides as standalone events. Meanings of words can and do change over time, sometimes quickly. "Hacker" used to be a computer lover, now it's an evil person that makes trouble on computers. "Starve" used to mean "to die", now it means really hungry. If I'm not mistaken, early in this sport, all we had was 100 mile rides, and those were endurance rides. Then 50's came along, and "endurance" got expanded to 50's too, even though a 50 isn't anywhere near as hard as a 100. Others have already corrected you on this -- when the AERC was founded there were rides at many lengths, some shorter than 50 miles. The AERC needed a good working definition of an endurance ride, and "a minimum of 50 miles in one day" was established as a key part of it. Something else we see with words is that once individual people start using them to mean one thing, they tend to resist changing meanings. I have a friend who puts "Hacker" on his tax form as his job, but he doesn't break into computers - he started using the word 25-30 years ago, and to him it never changed. I think there's some of that going on here - to people who started before there even was sanctioned LD rides, the word "endurance" means something different than it does to those of us that came along later. Words have power, too - the long-time riders probably can't relate very well, but think of this - I go and get started doing an LD enurance ride, pay my money to the American _Endurance_ Ride Conference, and now there's a bunch of people telling me I'm not an endurance rider. This doesn't really make sense, esp. from the new rider's POV - I go to rides sanctioned by the AERC, I pay my dues to the AERC, but somehow I'm not an endurance rider? Why didn't I join the American Limited Distance Ride Conference instead? Is it any wonder that a lot of new LD riders feel like they're second-class members? I don't think that's the message we want to give to these folks. Alas, you put your finger on a sad trend in society today: too many people want to attempt some challenge, but they want the challenge made easier rather than do all the hard work and preparation to achieve it. In this case, people wanting to lower the definition of an endurance ride instead of working up to riding 50 miles in one day. Frankly, it doesn't matter if you like it or not, but until you successfully complete a 50-mile (or more) one-day endurance ride, you are not an endurance rider -- no matter how many LD rides you've done. Just as it doesn't matter how many 10K races someone runs, she's not a Marathoner until she completes a Marathon. Sorry, but that's the facts, folks. I also think it's an artificial distinction - in my book, 75's and up are _real_ endurance. Any one-day event shorter than that just isn't all that tough. Heck - 85-90% of everyone who starts LDs and 50's finish. Can't be all that hard if nearly everyone finishes. 75 and up, it's more like 60%. But I don't think we're going to vote in a change that says that only about 5-10% of us are _real_ endurance riders. If you read my previous posts you know that I largely agree with this. There is so much variation in trail diffulty and weather conditions that not all 50-mile one-day rides are what I regard as a real test, on an easy trail it takes 70 - 80 miles for that IMO. However, there are many 50-mile trails that are genuinely tough, and a real challenge. The AERC has to have an objective definition, and 50 miles in one day has stood the test of time. -- 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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