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John you make some interesting observations. Horse ownership seems to be 
quite a bit different in the US than many other countries. I many 
coutries equine activities are a purview of the wealthy. In the US much 
of it is by the "proletariat." I suspect that in the US for the most 
part CTR and endurance are the sports of the "proletariat" where as in 
many other countries it is a sport of the wealthy. As you point out you 
are more interested in the individual horse than the "breeding" and I 
think many of not most of us involved in endurance in the US are the same.

We have equine sports in the US that are dominated by wealth - where 
breeders are omni present promoting their breeds, etc. much the same way 
you describe in Argentina. However, in the US it is diciplines such as 
dressage, eventing, TB racing, etc., not endurance. Endurance (and CTR) 
started as a backyard sport for the masses. It is not breed specific and 
it is a sport where all you need is a good horse a set of goals and the 
desire and work ethic to get your horse (and yourself) capable of 
meeting the goals.

That I think is what makes the sport so attractive to most of us in this 
country - and is fundamentally different from many countries. It would 
be interesting to find out in how many countries the motto of thier 
version endurance is "to finish is to win," where the event is purposely 
listed in the the bylaws of their organization as a "ride" rather than a 
"race." For the most part I believe that "to finish is to win" is the 
personal motto of most (but of course not all) US riders.

Truman

John Teeter wrote:

> Sorry to enter late into this. I generally don't have much to say about the breeding of the Arabian horse - mainly not being too particular as to the breed, but the individual I'm riding. But there are contrasts with activities in the US and those I've seen or heard of in other countries. 
>  


--

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things 
and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil 
things, that takes religion.” Steven Weinberg – Nobel Laureate, Physics



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