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[RC] President's Cup - Food for Thought - Ridecamp Guest

Please Reply to: kim kimfue@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Little did I know that I would be thinking less then a month later that a 36% 
completion rate at the WEC is fabulous compared to an 18% completion rate at 
the PC.  Some of the posts on the President's Cup were very enlightening and 
interesting as food for thought.  Perhaps, Nik's comment that this venue is for 
the "Michael Jordons of endurance horses" (paraphrasing of course) is not too 
far off.  Do you put 100 horses in a race like this and see which are able to 
withstand the rigors of this type of racing?  The cream rises to the top so to 
speak so breeding and selection programs benefit from finding the individuals 
that can finish an event like this?  In the long run, are we able to gain more 
knowledge on producing better endurance horses from running these kinds of 
events?  Or perhaps with only 18 very successful, experienced endurance horses 
able to complete this competition we are learning that maybe this type of venue 
is not in the best interest of our horses.  Or is it as simple as the guests 
just there as competition for the locals and to enable the event legitimate in 
the eyes of the endurance community so completion rates and selective breeding 
are not that important.  Is it just luck that those 18 finished on that day?  
Is it just bad luck that no US riders finished that day?  At this level in this 
racing venue, how much is just "luck" of the day.  Perhaps, right now,  over 
80% of the horses are not physically, genetically, or metabolically able to 
complete this type of competition.  Is it in the best interest of the horses to 
continue running them on this type of course or do you sacrifice the majority 
so in time, do you learn try to pick, breed, or select individual horses that 
are "Michael Jordons of endurance"?  Unfortunately, selective breeding in 
horses is not like that of lab rats or rabbits and you may not see results of a 
specific breeding program for a decade or more.  In the meantime, is it just 
hit or miss with trying to find one in a million or should the course terrain 
be varied to allow for some reprise for the animal's metabolic and physical 
well being?  Something does not seem right when over 80% of EXPERIENCED 
participants cannot finish the course.  The results of this race does open the 
door to speculative discussion on this topic and I do wonder what can be 
learned from endurance events of this nature.  Or perhaps these events should 
be viewed as nothing more then just a platform and background for the wealthy 
to display competitive rivalry.
    I wonder why riders continue to participate in this type of event if they 
do not have an animal that has been trained specifically for this style of 
riding and the horse previously proven successful in this type of terrain. It 
is obvious that this course venue is definitely unforgiving and the odds of 
completion are quite low even for horses that are trained for this type of 
racing.  A winner of mountain races seems to have very little chance of even 
completing this type of course.  Does just getting invited and entering a ride 
like this hold so much prestige for the rider that it is worth the stress on 
the horse of air travel, unfamiliar accommodations, and all the other stresses 
the animal has to go through to compete in a foreign land? Is this really just 
a platform for selling horses? I can see if you thought you had a chance to be 
"competitive" that it may be worth putting the animal through this process but 
why go through this when the odds of only completing are so astronomically low? 
 After reading the posts on the US team at the WEC and some of their problems 
being due to possible  travel and acclimation stresses why would anyone go 
through this when the odds of just finishing are so low for even "hometown" 
horses being trained in course conditions.
     Do they ever allow research studies to take place at these UAE events 
like have been done at the Tevis or ROC?  It would seem like the perfect 
"laboratory" to learn more about our horses.  With the state of the art equine 
hospital facilities in the UAE and world class veterinarians that are used at 
these events it would seem this would be the ideal location for metabolic and 
lameness studies.  I wonder with the high attrition rate if any research could 
be gleaned for the entire endurance community from these top level horses being 
ridden under such stressful conditions.

Kim


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