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RE: [RC] Endurance - FEI, UAE - StephTeeterTruman - this sport is moving along - with or without us (AERC) - and there are many things about the direction of FEI/International Endurance that I personally don't like. -BUT - I still feel that it is best to stay involved. For the long term interest of the sport, and in the interest of the horses in the sport. We still have a voice. The changes in Endurance at the International level are happening fairly rapidly, and maybe we're seeing a pendulum swing. Maybe 5 or 10 years down the road it will be ready to swing back around. Maybe the direction that it's going is not sustainable.... a flat track mentality on racing, but over 160km courses... I really don't think this will survive. Let's hang in there. We're not alone - a lot of folks in other parts of the world (most of them) have the same concerns. We can still make a difference, but not if we quit caring and stop speaking out. I think everybody needs to stay involved, even if we're becoming somewhat horrified at present. Regarding the USEF mileage requirements for nomination - (I've had a glass of wine, I may regret this, but) - I think we're being driven by the NEED to do well at the WEC's - basically afraid of losing USEF funding. Some of us are losing touch - driven by the need to win, to excel. Looking at the examples set by the UAE (horses really can go very very very fast) and igoring the fact that for every single fast horse, there are 100 horses that tried but failed. We simply cannot compete at this level at this time - we can't afford the cost in horseflesh necessary to find the fast freaks, and I don't think many of us even know how to train at the level that they do. Every horse in these stables gets a thorough vet exam every day, after every workout. Radiographs, thermography, etc are available at any time. They train hard, and they keep their eyes wide open. And only a small percentage of horses meet the muster. Maybe we can't compete with this, maybe we shouldn't try for the moment. Maybe we should acknowlege our current limitations (home grown, home trained, home schooled horses and riders for the most part) - and do our best, but not sacrifice our history of common sense and compassion. I really do hate to see good horses come on strong, do well for a few seasons, and then dissappear. And IMO - there are quite a few who think this is OK in the pursuit of a USEF medal. I would rather see us 'sit out' for a while then try to whiz/bang find the fast young horses right now and let 'em run. Let's give time for the dust to settle. Stick to our standards, encourage our people to bring our best horses on slowly, correctly and then when we're ready, then get back in the game. Have patience - don't be stupid - but don't run out of the room in horror either. Steph -----Original Message----- From: Truman Prevatt [mailto:tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2005 5:38 PM To: StephTeeter Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] Endurance - FEI, UAE We also dropped a requirement that a horse and ride must have completed a 1 day 100 together as a team from the nomination requirements for the NAC this year. So that opens up the issues again that can arise with riders not knowing a horse until they have to put the pedal to the metal because they want to be "selected." Is that really good for our horses? While we beat ourselves up over qualifications that many feel too lax for the AERC NC, USEF is basically eliminating all requirements to nominate for an FEI championship ride. Then they throw out a 13:20 time standard for a rider to have to do their first 100 at the Biltmore or Ft. Howes or don't apply. A horse that is not even qualified for the AERC NC can nominate for the WEC. Does any one else (except Steph) see something wrong here. About the only thing this will accomplish is to produce more dead horses. Is this really the direction we in the AERC want to see? Is the evolving FEI sport a sport we want to be associated with? I think it's time the AERC have an open debate over this direction in international and to decide if it is in the best interest of the AERC and our sport of endurance riding, to cut international loose. It has evolve in a direction which was unanticipated and in a direction that I must say I find repugnant and not compatible with the our standards of care and compassion for the horse. FEI endurance seems to have evolved into a sport of the throw away horse. It is a sport some might want to pursue, and that's their choice. However, I would prefer that they not do it under any official recogonition of the AERC. It's time for International endurance to leave the nest and go out on it's own in this country. Truman StephTeeter wrote: (Caution: the following paragraph is totally subjective, I'm going to vent a little ). At a recent conference call of the USEF High Performance Athletes committee (USEF riders elected to the committee), of which I am a member, a motion was put forward to recommend to the USEF Endurance committee that the mileage requirement qualification for horses to be nominated for the 2006 WEC be eliminated. The proposal put forward by a committee member was to allow riders to nominate horses with no previous mileage requirement. By majority vote, the committee recommended that the horse requirement to have completed two 100 mile rides be eliminated. The committee recommended by majority vote that the requirement of the horse to have completed 500 lifetime miles be reduced to 200 lifetime miles. The argument of persuasion was that 'we need younger faster horses to compete' and that 'we have too many old high mileage horses trying to compete'. I have to ask - what was the age of the US horses that have won World Championships in the past? It appears to me that some are now promoting the quest for 'victory' at all costs. This is short sighted and IMO foolish. Do we really want to allow riders to nominate 6 year old horses, that have done 4 50-mile rides, to be considered to represent the US at a World Championship 160km race. The potential for pushing horses beyond the limit of conditioning is very high in this circumstance. We might see some younger horses turning out faster ride times w/o the lameness issues that often accompany high mileage horses... but we probably won't see these horses compete successfully for very long. What is the cost? And do we, USEF, really want to endorse this attitude, this 'message'. I personally do not. Ok, venting over. later - Steph =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- “It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard Feynman =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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