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RE: [RC] [RC] LD catagory....? - heidiThis is the point I've been trying to make for a couple of years now. LD, with a name change to get rid of that word "limited," should be treated as a sport because that is what it's become. What about it ISN'T treated like a sport now???? The LD riders get regional and national awards, mileage tracked, completion awards, etc. We don't have to include the sacred word "endurance" as part of it if it offends the majority, but, let's recognize it for what it's become. Riders, with their horses, do compete in this distance. It IS recognized! And the word "endurance" isn't "sacred" for goodness sakes, nor is this about "offending" the riders of longer mileages. It is ABOUT the fact that there IS an added challenge to going further. Several people have now written good posts about comparing marathons to endurance, and I think most readers "get" the point, despite Truman's attempts to circumlocute. Quit treating them like children here. It's offensive! It's a sport, by itself, and if AERC doesn't start recognizing it as such there will come a day when they organize and start rides all on their own, without any sanctioning. Recognize it as a competitive sport. Give them points; doesn't have to be endurance points, but, recognize their placings and their achievements. Their achievements ARE recognized! The rub seems to be about a national BC, and that seems to affect how things are handled in only a couple of regions. The making of a mountain out of a molehill with regard to the rest of the LD concept seems to have come unilaterally from you and Truman (if I dare speak the obvious out loud, which I had already observed, but which has so far only been articulated in numerous private posts, as apparently no one else wants to say the obvious out loud). If we don't, they will eventually go elsewhere. Huh? They are flocking here in droves, for the way it is! Truman constantly quotes the allegedly huge LD numbers in the SE--and the numbers DO support his claim that the LDs are often larger than the 50s, although I already addressed the fact that rides with the 75-100 entries that he quoted were clearly not the norm. We likewise see LDs here with roughly the same entry numbers as the 50s frequently, so clearly we are not driving people away. And there SHOULD be SOME incentive to want to move on into endurance from LDs--that is one of the major reasons for having them! Heidi ============================================================ Just because someone tells you that your horse isn't "fit" for endurance...doesn't mean it isn't, it just means your horse isn't fit to be "their" endurance horse! Go for it, you never know what you'll accomplish with that "saddle horse" or "trail horse" of YOURS! ~ Darlene Anderson - DPD Endurance ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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