Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Yes, Steph.  This is what I've always thought that endurance WAS about, 
although after some sad experiences here I find that it is what it 
SHOULD be about. I can't imagine being very interested in how many 
miles I can rack up, after all, I've done more mileage in cars than 
I'll ever do on a horse if human mileage is important....and I think 
that this is the case for most riders who have to trailer very far.  
Maybe the question shouldn't be over whether a rider is LD or endurance 
ever...that's just the length of the journey that day.  And as you say, 
the horses couldn't care less about the definitions but they are the 
important ones.

It come to my mind that what causes horror stories like the stupidity 
that occurred here under the Egyptian FEI auspices is in fact the 
problem that the stupid humans are thinking that they win the race 
rather than the horses and that somehow winning this makes them either 
a better (or unfortunately a richer) person.  Maybe a little ego-ectomy 
is in need.

Maryanne
Cairo

On Monday, November 3, 2003, at 04:04 AM, Steph Teeter wrote:

> It's been interesting reading some of the recent ridecamp posts on
> 'endurance' , LD, etc. Believe me - once you've done a 100, once 
> you've seen
> the horse you're riding cover One Hundred miles in one day... the awe 
> and
> respect for what these horses can do is overwhelming. It's not about 
> us -
> the riders - the LDers, 50 milerss, whatever - it's about the 
> incredible
> feat that these horses can accomplish. For us to try to label ourselves
> seems so silly, we (the humans) are mere passengers, we are simply 
> playing
> our sport however it suits us. These animals, these horses, are beyond
> words - the heart, the willingness, the sheer physical ability. Please 
> -
> let's not forget that we arbitrarily set the game rules at 25, 50, 100,
> whatever... but these animals are oblivious to our definitions. And 
> they are
> magnificent. And 'we' are simply passengers. We should worry less 
> about what
> 'we' accomplish, and more about what these animals are capable of 
> doing, and
> the responsibilty that each of us has to compete within their ability, 
> not
> within our definition of the sport.
>
> Still grinning...
>
> Steph
>
>
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