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[RC] Future AERC Directions - Was 100 Mile One Day Rides - rides2farGrowth would give us more stength in numbers and resources which can be used to promote the creation and preservation of trails for distance riding, to educate others about the horsewomanship/horsemanship of long distance riding, etc. Growth for the sake of growth...sounds like cancer. Here's a nice quote from Ed Abbey: "We are belabored by the insistence on the part of our politicians, businessmen and military leaders, and the claque of scriveners who serve them, that "growth" and "power" are intrinsic goods, of which we can never have enough, or even too much. As if gigantism were an end in itself. As if a commendable rat were a rat twelve hands high at the shoulders...and still growing." I ask...*why* did we want to be the biggest group? Because we can say we are the biggest? Where will we put these new riders? We're using most of the public and private lands around here that are appropriate for our sport on most of the weekends that it's possible to use them. The rides are pretty large...many are having to limit entries. I'm not sure of the rational of bringing in a bunch of pleasure riders who will soon want their share of awards for being the most *amazing* fun rider. I *would* like to recruit all the *real* endurance riders out there who will be happier if they find this sport, but see no reason to alter the sport to bring in less motivated riders simply for the sake of numbers. If this means being a "leaner & meaner" organization so be it. I believe that if we continue to recruit non-endurance riders with non-endurance goals into our voting ranks they will naturally steer the entire organization in a non-endurance direction...and then the "natural evolution" will be for another "truly endurance" organization to be formed elsewhere. Randy says that we need higher numbers so we can be a large enough group to be noticed when dealing with the government...that there are a LOT more trail riders than endurance riders so we need to pull in these people who might handle a "fun ride" to add their numbers to ours to make a more effective lobby. I have a different theory. As I see it not all trail riders are endurance riders ...*but* ALL endurance riders are trail riders. Perhaps we should be doing *our* lobbying through trail riding organizations which already have the big numbers. I think our board members need to stop thinking of this as a business that they want to make the "biggest", "best", "most successful", "fastest growing" and go back to thinking... Why did we come up with an organization in the first place? What is the purpose of AERC? Isn't it a records keeping organization to promote ENDURANCE riding...not "fun rides", to come up with some standard rules and procedures to protect the horses. There are already trail riding clubs out there. He suggests that our "extreme sport" status makes us less marketable to sponsors. Yeah, tell Mountain Dew and all the sports gear companies that. Do you think every kid who buys "Jordans" is going to the NBA? No, they want to "look" like someone who is. If you wanted to market a product to a weekend trail rider, what better way than to show them it's good enough for the *extreme* crowd. If you want to sell a guy who may camp in his horse trail occasionally that it's the right one...what better endorsement than to show that the riders who camp in theirs *every* weekend use it? You don't tell them that endurance riders are their market...you tell them that if endurance riders use it trail riders will *know* it's good! On the other growth may be we go further from the roots of the sport in "endurnace riding" with the Tevis as the model of an endurance ride, i.e. we would have less focus. Amen...and why on earth do we have an American Endurance Ride Conference if not to serve Endurance Riding? All those other goals are distractions. Angie McGhee AERC 7092 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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