I'll have to disagree with you here, Rae. In the 2
1/2 years of training/conditioning rides that I've done, some of them up to
35 miles, I've never had the experience of vetting in, camping with my horse,
the early morning group start, going through "gates" for time & P&R,
mid-ride vetting, so on & so forth. However, an LD provides all that
"training" for a newbie. No, LDs are not training rides for all riders, some of
my very experienced friends have only done and only wish to do LDs. They do have
the option of doing CTRs instead, however, they like the more relaxed
atmosphere of AERC rides, and prefer being with their endurance riding
buddies at ridecamp.
There's no belittling attitude in calling LDs
training rides. There's no belittling attitude in calling them limited distance.
No, limited doesn't refer to the horse or rider, although, as my body becomes
limited I most likely will only do LD rides, and if my 3 yr old Arab/mustang
doesn't want to do 50 mile rides, we'll be limited to LD rides. And I'll
stay with AERC when I do my limited rides rather than switch to NATRC,
because I like being with my trail riding/conditioning buddies, and none of them
do CTR.
I have never said it
should be called "endurance." It's not and I agree with that point
entirely. What I object to is calling it a training ride. (that's where
the belittling attitude comes into play) You don't pay for a training
ride. That's what you do before you show up for the competition. This
is an event, complete with rules and awards, so quit trying to belittle it
for the VERY small percentage of newcomers that don't know what
they're doing. If people like that are really such an issue, then
perhaps first time riders should have restrictions placed on them - like they
must be sponsored; they can ride, but not place; they have to volunteer or
pass a rules test before they can ride,
etc.
