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Re: [RC] Endurance - FEI, UAE - rides2far. 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. There's a book called "Fast as White Lightning" about the history of NASCAR and how it rose to it's modern form. In the early days the competition between the different major auto makers was ruthless. They wanted to be IN FRONT...if they wrecked and could say they were in front when it happened that was better than finishing 3rd. Then they came up with the idea of a year long points race. Made it important to FINISH consistantly. Speed was still important, but a non-finish hurt them a lot in the points. There was a certain series of races listed where they all competed...and the one with the most points at the end was the champion. For the same reason I think the year end awards for AERC are a far better barometer as to a horse's quality than the one day championship race. I don't know what it was called, but I know there was a world wide points championship when I was reading Endurance World but it was based on the RIDER. Again, that promotes using up horses. It was obviously beneficial to the folks with 100 horses in their barns and I can see where they were vigorously oppose the idea of a points FOR THE HORSE system, but to me that's where it's at. If they want to have a "rider of the year" award for rider points, OK, but no way the top "Endurance Award" should go to a jockey flying around the world hopping horses others train. If one of these horses can be the best for an entire year's rides, that's the minimum I think should be required to be World Champion.... Would they do sub 7 hr. 100's if they knew the same horse *had* to be at the next ride too? *Maybe* not. Requires a bit of strategy on their part not to cross that line and count on being able to bring a replacement in from the bench. Personally, I think it should be *horse and rider team* and that horse's points should only count with that rider but that part isn't *as* essential. As to the idea of knocking out the qualification period. For the type of race they're running right now, I can see that if winning was your plan, it would help. It's going to take running lots of young horses hard to feed that monstor. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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