Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Truman Prevatt wrote:
> The point here is they are not giving the BC award as defined by the 
> AERC so it really doesn't matter if the awards are given or not. The 
> riders in those regions are eliminaed form competiting for the regional 
> AERC award unless they want to drive the extra miles to ride out of region.
While the larger discussion may indeed be on the need for all rides to use the same 
protocol to judge LD BC's, MY response was directed towards the very specific claim 
by Heidi that "some vets in some regions are not willing to use such a tool".  I felt 
this assertion to be false and asked her to come forth with details.  After all, I 
reasoned, since "some" is often a polite euphemism for "lots", surely it shouldn't be 
too difficult for her to name just TWO.  However, I was mistaken.  As you have seen, 
she stated that she couldn't "remember which ones they were" and that they had been 
"previously mentioned in this forum".  In short, she made an assertion that cast 
aspersions on the very people that safe guard the well-being of our horses at rides 
based on RIDECAMP GOSSIP!!  Ye Gods - can you spell petard?  As a former vet, one 
would think she would still consider herself somewhat a part of that community and 
refrain from making allegations NOT based on her own personal experiences and NOT 
verified by independent observers.  If so, one would be wrong.

> Any RM can make up his/her own criteria and call it BC. Heck a RM could 
> say only non-Arabs are eligible for standing for BC and it would me 
> valid - as valid as any other non-compliant AERC BC award..  However, if 
> it is not recogonized by the AERC it is not an AERC BC and it doesn't 
> count in the AREC standings. If it walks like a turtle, talks like a 
> turtle - then it's not a duck ;-) .
This is just grandstanding, silly, unless you can name me an RM that actually DID any 
of the above :)  Just because AERC has established the ENDURANCE BC form as 
appropriate for LD rides doesn't mean it is truly the best method to make such an 
award.  Over time, poorly chosen paths to fine and good objectives are abandoned for 
better paths to the same goals.  I truly hope that AERC will find a better path.

On a final note, someone else mentioned that it seemed as if the main concern in this 
debate was that hard-working, dedicated LD riders were more concerned with THEIR 
getting awards and recognition than any harm that might befall some poor horse.  Your 
words, "...they are not giving the BC award as defined by the AERC so it really 
doesn't matter if the awards are given or not" certainly supports that contention 
since the "doesn't matter" refers to year-end accolades at the Convention and the 
awards that don't matter are available to all horses in an LD ride, not just the fast 
few.



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