 |
FW: RE: [RC] FEI and AERC - WEC - Alair DavidsonI agree with most of the sentiments expressed here about flat-track racing vs. endurance. Outside of my personal objections, my concern is that if horses die or are permanently injured, public sentiment will turn against the sport and we all loose - trail access for rides, nutritional products from manufacturers, the vet community as a whole, and most importantly current and new riders. All one has to do is look at the number of laws regarding horse racing here in California to see how bad it can get when the public thinks horses are being abused. I personally like the casual atmosphere in ridecamp... I can do without ASPCA monitors, ride stewards and PETA protestors. Would it be feasible to create some alternate proposals and do some lobbying with the other countries that appear to feel as we do (i.e. Australia) and then make a proposal to the FEI as to WHAT the WEC should be? Some ideas - Make the WEC a series of 3 rides - same rider/horse - one can be flat, one mountain, one varied. This would mean that WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPION would represent the whole sport, not just one country's idea of it. - Example - FEI- Three day eventing - stadium, x-country and dressage. Any country wanting to host the WEC would have to submit a proposal to host the games (similar to the Olympics) with trail proposals. A committee would choose which country's submission most closely represented the sport in the best way. This would require someone to work the politics... is that where the AERC comes in? Submit a proposal to the FEI that the horse's passport must include a horse's full ride history (or at least its identities during its career) at sanctioned events (including endurance events sanctioned by NATRAC, CTR and other countries equivalent) so as to track these horses who's names seem to change. If an FEI competing endurance horse dies within say 1 year of its last race, the FEI must be notified. (That said, does the FEI have the equivalent of our Horse Welfare Committee?) Part of my inspiration in this sport is all of those who have gone before me and changed the state of the state and worked to overcome the challenges. People have created saddles and tack that made riding down mountains more safe, instituted more stringent vetting and hold times based on some horrible learning experiences, researched nutritional requirements and so much more I'm just beginning to learn about. It just seems that throwing up ones hands and walking away from a problem is so .... anti-endurance. -Alair (Caution: the following paragraph is totally subjective, I'm going to venta 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|