Like calling a 10K a marathon--it just doesn't WORK. And it's
insulting. It is HARDER to do a 50 than to do a 25. They are not the
same for either horse or rider. I can say that without IN ANY WAY
putting down the lower distance.
But 10 k runners are not looked down up on. There are not list where
they get slammed on a regular basis. In fact in human running, all
distances get the same respect from the 100 meters to the marathon. The
events are different and require different skills. There is no way the
top marathoner in the world could beat the top miler in the world in a
mile - would not even be close.
I suspect in a few years as the sport evolves more we will see 100 mile
horses and 50 mile horses ( actually I think we see them already ) with
the 50 mile horses specialized to 50 miles. As far as the horses go I
don't see that a 100 mile horse is better than a 50 mile horse - maybe
different but not better and I suspect a well selected and well trained
50 mile horse would blow the socks off of a 50 miles than a 100 mile
horse moving down. Here I'm talking about winning and if that bothers
some - hit the delete key.
I also suspect you can roll the clock back and substitute 50 miles for
LD and 100 miles for endurance and you heard a lot of the same things
said. As we move forward in time I suspect LD riders will be more
accepted as real people and not second class citizens who are supposed
to send their money to the AERC, come the the rides and pay almost the
same rider fee and sit back, keep their mouth shut and worship the
"real endurance riders." I don't know maybe they should just stop
supporting endurance rides, form their own organization and go have
some fun. Maybe an economic boycott of endurance rides and the AERC is
what the LD riders should do.
Come on folks can't be stop bashing LD's - we just did that 3 weeks ago
and the cycle is normally 3 months ;-).
Truman
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
