Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hi everybody!

 For those of you who don't know me, I ride in the Western region and I've 
been doing endurance for about 8 years of my life (I'm going to be 17 soon). 
I work at a local feed store (Echo Valley Ranch), and doing Tevis has always 
been a dream of mine. For those of you who know, the rules for Tevis is that 
you have to be 18 or older to ride unsponsored, no exceptions. My whole goal 
has been to influence this in some way, or hopefully change the rules. I've 
been riding unsponsored for a few years now, and I'm not looking forward to 
going back and relying on someone else. I used to switch sponsors a lot and 
it never seemed to work out. Now that I'm independent, I can COMPETE which 
is a dream come true. I love it, and I got second place on a ride this 
summer (NASTR), it was a rush! I train by myself, compete by myself, and do 
my endurance rides by myself. I wouldn't have this any other way, as I'm an 
independent person and so is my horse. Of course, Tevis is a much harder 
ride. I'm a local to Auburn though, and I've ridden the whole trail before. 
I do night rides in the canyons a lot, and I'm completely familiar with the 
terrain. I've volunteered at Franciscos/ white oak flat (that one year) for 
about 9 years, and I've crewed for riders. I've done a ton of other 
endurance rides (don't check my record,.. most of it's wrong- i promise 
it'll be fixed). Anyways, I'm a very capable person overall, but I still get 
a lot of discrimination with my age. I've talked to the Tevis office about 
the possibility of making a loop-hole for capable juniors. Richard Goodwin 
was very helpful in the situation, and he gave me some advice on how to get 
to the board. I wrote a letter to the board members, and I was planning on 
going to the local meeting off of Foresthill. After talking to the 
president, mike picket, he told me that he would present it to the board 
(which he did), but it was decided to not take action on my issue. They said 
it would be great to have me ride as a junior, but I feel very strongly 
against this, mostly for the reasons above. It is a dream, and I'll do what 
it takes to get me there. This year though, I know I'll be ready for it. I 
just bought a new horse, and you never know what can happen in a few years. 
For all I know, something will go wrong in the next couple years, and I've 
always been a determined person. I try and live life while I can, after all 
you never know what can happen.  If I'm capable, I really do feel that I 
deserve a chance. My awesome friend, Andrew Gerhard, has ridden with me when 
he sponsored me,and other times. He's for this cause of me riding alone, as 
well as other endurance riders I know. Matt Scribner was given permission by 
Wendell Robie to do Tevis as a 17 year old, as well as Hal Hall. Not that I 
think Im better than other juniors, or I should be placed in the league with 
Hal Hall. :D
      So basically, I'll stop rambling, but I've been trying to fight for a 
cause I believe in, and I'm just running in place. The Western States people 
told me there was nothing I could do, but I will continue to fight this, 
without losing any of their respect. They try to uphold Mr. Robie's way of 
doing the ride, then shouldn't they honor this? AERC lets me ride 
unsponsored, so liability shouldn't be that big of  an issue. My parents 
would happily sign any paper. I could do any other 100 mile ride, 
unsponsored, just fine. We all know about the forbidden fruit though!!:D. 
Anyways, email me with any questions, comments, ect. I will stand up for 
what I believe in, and the Tevis was meant to be ridden how each individual 
rides. Thats all I'm asking for. If I got a lot of endurance people behind 
me I think it would help. Letters or calls to the Tevis office would be 
great, ask me if you have any questions. There's no sense in helping me ouat 
unlesss you know where I'm coming from. I'll also be at the Endurance party 
this weekend in auburn.. SO PLEASE HELP ME OUT! I REALLY NEED YOUR SUPPORT! 
hehe..Thanks everyone. My cell phone is (530) 906-0235 if you would like to 
get a hold of me. Let' make something happen!!
~Courtney and Kiefer- Tevis '05 here we come!
(courtneygiardina@xxxxxxxxxxx)



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