In this case I think number are extremely important. The numbers have
been indicating this tend for over 8 years. But nothing has been done
about it. My fear is it is too late - the die may be cast. Five years
ago was the time to react.
On the other hand, my doing a 100 or not doing a 100 is independent of
"incentives." I can't speak for Nina any more than you can but I
suspect they wouldn't make much difference to her either. Incentives
will do absolutely no good unless it is understood why people are not
doing 100's. No not the "I really want too, but.....," or "when I get a
horse you bet." But the real reasons. Why is it that 3 out of 4 riders
in FL in '94 wanted to do a 100 - but today I don't hear that much?
Altough we have lost about 4 100's in the past 5 years in the SE - why
are the 100 mile rides that we still have about the same size? BTW this
is not just happening in endurance 100, the demand for 3 day 100 mile
CTR's seems also to be on the decline. There are a lot of questions
that need to be answered before we start to talk about incentives. I'm
not against incentives if it understood what they are for and if they
are targeted so they have a snowball's chance in hell of working. But
incentives without this understanding are no more than subsidies for a
small group of riders - I sure don't like that ideal at all.
Bottom line you do a 100 because you want to If crossing the finish
line after 100 miles knowing that you and your horse have done your
best isn't enough incentive for someone - then no amount of prizes is
going to get them past the bouts of dehydration, the raw ozzing hide on
their legs, the barfing five miles into the last check, etc. It's a
matter of pride in personal accomishment - not prizes. That's why I did
my 100's. Angie why do you do 100's, from all your post it shoulds
like the prizes.
