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[RC] Philosophy and Goals in distance riding - Alissa CowanCarolyn, I am so glad you took advantage of the unique opportunity that Fair Hill offers in the fall - a weekend to bring together endurance, three day, and combined driving, all in one venue, all on one weekend. We're hoping, eventually, that endurance will be recognized by other disciplines as a challenging, safe sport ridden by caring folks such as yourselves. We haven't yet figured out how to make it spectator friendly, especially for 100 mile rides. But we think it's a fine start.We'd do it again this year, but the AERC Nationals at Old Dominion happen on the same weekend as Fair Hill International, and they're only about three hours away from us. So, we're bowing out of hosting a fall ride this year and are encouraging everyone in our area to take the opportunity to go to OD and support the Nationals. Go as a crew, go as a volunteer, or just GO RIDE!! I, unfortunately, won't be able to come play at Nationals - Fair Hill snagged me first so this fall I think I am in charge of the cones competition for combined driving. Think I know a darned thing about driving?? Think again! Come check it out in 2007, though. Your entry gets you and some of your crew free admission in to the Festival for four days - an extra $35 value per person. And we try to take care of you. Plus - where else can you ride around the cross country course where David O'Conner will be galloping about three hours after you leave in the morning? Oh - here's a question for you ride camp people. You maybe haven't ever had this experience, though. If you went to an endurance ride where your horses HAD to stay in a stall (but you could camp next to the barn in your camper) would that be a turn-off for you? Would it keep you from coming to a ride? It might be our only option at Fair Hill for endurance in the future - the rangers got a bit upset at the mud in our camping field the year that it rained in BUCKETS... Alissa It's funny how different disciplines view each other. I was at Fairhill several years ago and the same time the endurance ride is going on, they are doing 3 day eventing. They start the 3 day on Thursday, so we had plenty of time to hang around and watch the events before our ride. We were talking to some of the eventers and their families and we were asked if we were allowed to "walk the course" before the ride. We sort of looked at them funny, and they said, "That isn't allowed?" We replied that I guess you could if you wanted to, but why would you want to walk 50 miles? They asked then how do you know what the course will be like. Our reply, we didn't know what it was going to be like, that is half the fun, or challenge of this sport. They thought we were nuts that we would go onto a course that we didn't know every inch of. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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