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Re: [RC] Manistee mess - Jon . Linderman>My standard answer to anyone that complains about a ride is "you need to put on a ride!" Putting a ride on is not an easy thing to do. I always figure it is like having a party for all one's friends. Jeanie Touche! Myself, I'll be off horse for 3 rides this year as trail boss to repay some of the debt I feel I owe people who've been so helpful & to help keep the sport going. Not an RM, but helping to pull some of my own weight & I haven't been in this sport long. I don't want to diminish someone's opinion, and I haven't done the LM ride, but all my expereinces up north in MI have been VERY positive. There are rides l"ve been to elsewhere that the RM seemed annoyed, or as a newer rider I felt inhibited to ask questions, but I am still grateful that they put on the ride & figure its up to me to ask around. I get the sense that at some rides that have been going on for years, so many people know the set-up & the trails, that it all seems to run itself & that can seem impersonal to newer people. Sure in a perfect world everyone is polite, trails never get vandalized, no one's horse escapes at 2 am, no one acts up out on trail or in the vet checks, and weather doesn't foul things up. But it seems that rarely do endurance and "perfect" go hand in hand. RM's do alot, sometimes w/little thanks and even at their own personal expense. If soemone is willing to take time away from their own horse and family, and risk eating a bundle to put on a ride, I am not going to complain if things aren't perfect. Look so you get lost, you are still riding a horse through wonderful country & thats a better day than most people get to have. Getting lost can cost you a placing or two, maybe even several hours, but thats part of the whole "finishing" issue. So the RM was short and snippy. They were probably on about hour 60 w/out sleep, their own kids or husband nagging them, splitting headache, a gazillion details to attend to, and their own horse is either languishing in his paddock unattended, or worse yet home & not even able to ride. It 'aint like golf at a country club!
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