Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> New folks aren't going to be attracted to the breed by endurance---
Huh???  A great many folks who never DREAMED of owning one of those "crazy
A-rabs" now own and ride them BECAUSE of CTR.

In case you haven't read the latest market survey done by the Registry,
Bette, distance riding is THE #1 competitive pursuit of Arabian
owners--many of which own a riding gelding--the very critter for which
there needs to be a market.

Furthermore, distance riding in its various forms draws A LOT more people
to the breed who just want a pleasure riding horse--not EVERYONE wants to
compete at anything--and it darn sure isn't the crazed-looking show horses
that sell pleasure riding mounts!  It is the calm critters camping out at
distance rides and going down the trail.

I've got two little girls on Arabs in our local 4-H now--not because they
ever wanted one of the crazed idiots--but because my horses are sane trail
horses.  I doubt if either one will endurance ride, although I don't know
the younger one all that well, so I could be pleasantly surprised.  I'd
wager that more folks get truly hooked on the breed through distance
riding than any other activity--even if they never enter a ride.  The ones
who buy because of the shows are the 5-years-and-out folks--who think they
are going to breed the next Scottsdale halter champion and put their kidst
through college on the profits.  We don't NEED that kind of marketing--in
fact, that is what is hurting us.

I agree that one has to define "showing" when one is complaining--for the
sake of this discussion, I'll state that I am talking about the "regular"
halter and rail classes.  And I suspect that Lif is, too.  The Sport Horse
classes are a whole different deal, and AHA really got a wake-up call when
they split the Sport Horses off into their own Nationals and just about
got more entries than they could handle.  They were amazed--but it was no
surprise to the rest of us, who know that the bread and butter of the
horse world is the amateur owner, and the things that that amateur
owner/rider can do with his/her horse.  That's one reason why endurance is
so popular.

Here in Region IV, there are roughly 10 times as many Arabs going to
endurance rides as going to AHA shows.  You'd think they'd get a clue????

Heidi




============================================================
The only thing worse than crewing for a female Endurance rider is crewing
for a wet, tired female Endurance Rider! A good crew person has patience, a
sense of humor, and knows that sometimes it's best to say nothing at all!
~  Jim Holland

ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/

============================================================