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Re: [RC] [RC] RideCamp -LDs. - heidiI did not know that, Heidi. This is why listening to one's elders is so important. You might learn something from them. All this time on Ridecamp and this is the first time I've ever heard anyone say something like this. Wow! I guess repitition pays off--I repeat that information at least once a year. So, 25 miles used to be endurance???? Is that what I'm hearing? Just incredible how some put that distance down, when, in the beginning, it was considered worthy to be called endurance. Uh, Howard, no. Only a few folks "put it down"--and you can find naysayers about anything. I say, bring it back. Bring it back. Make it all inclusive. Go back to the beginning. Again, Howard, it was discontinued in the interests of the welfare of the horse. What happens when there are points attached is that a few who choose to abuse the system will hang in to the first vet check, pass that, and then race balls to the wall for the last half. It only takes a few to ruin it for everyone. The numbers of horses lined up on IVs was what caused the 25-milers to be shut down as points rides. I'd think that given your interest in horse welfare, you'd be the LAST person to suggest that we bring back such a travesty. The current system works, and it was by making LD a separate event that it even became possible to HAVE LD as a part of the sport without violating our first and foremost tenet--that the HORSE COMES FIRST!! I'm still convinced, that if done correctly, less miles is so much easier on the horse and, their welfare. This is the distance that should be looked at with honor (by all) instead of scorn (by some). It's why this distance is so popular and has the fastest growing segment of riders within AERC. Less worry. I wish it was that simple, Howard. But you put in the one clinker--"if done correctly." By making it a points race, there are those who WILL not do it "correctly" and the horses paid the price. Time and time again. Speed kills. And the shorter the ride, the faster they can go. The horses that did not end up on IVs after "points chasing" 25-milers often went home with sufficient leg damage that they did not come back. At least on 50s, the rider has to save SOMETHING in reserve just to get through the course, AND the vets have several more opportunities to intervene if the horse is not being ridden "correctly"--ie the horse is overridden. I know that you don't seem to understand that there WERE those of us "way back when" who were extremely concerned about horse welfare, and who did our best to address horse welfare every time we saw a problem. Well, Howard, the 25s for points were a HUGE problem. Shutting them down completely was one solution. Offering them as a separate entity has proven to be a better solution, because it DOES allow the people who will do them "correctly" to come do them--to enjoy the sport, to get started, or whatever. I wish I could flash you back in time, Howard, to experience the frustration that I and others felt as we held jugs on yet another 25-mile points chaser, or watched yet another one go home with its legs wrapped due to bilateral bowed tendons, or whatever--those memories are too firmly branded in my brain, and I care too much about the horses to EVER support the return to such a thing. The current LD system has its glitches--but it is working, it is providing a good avenue into the sport for beginners, it is providing a lot of enjoyment for riders who are satisfied with staying at that level, and above all, by being conducted as a separate entity, it is relatively safe for the horse. The various profiles I see don't have the LD sticking WAAAY out there on the pull charts or the treatment charts or the death charts. Give some credit where credit is due, Howard--your "ancestors" in this sport recognized something that was killing and damaging horses, and did something about it. And the change has worked. Heidi ============================================================ Arabians were bred for years primarily as a war horse and those requirements are similar to what we do today with endurance riding. ~ Homer Saferwiffle ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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