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RE: [RC] [RC] A sad story for AERC - Catfish DanielsHi Amber:Well, my hat's off to you for looking out for his horse. It's scary when our experience reminds us about the scary consequences that a less experienced rider may impose on his horse. But in fairness to this guy, who obviously is barely starting his venture into endurance riding, I don't think it was all too cool to exploit him publicly on this forum the way you did. There are many, many newbies about to enter the sport that have somewhat of a misconception of what endurance riding is, how to ease into it, the time, knowledge and experience it takes before attenpting to "race" - and for many of them, they need to learn. For most, learning starts by participating. You learn a lot by simply camping, meeting people, and the power of influence by more experienced riders all around you. Going to a pre-ride meeting, listening to the veterinarians, and for those that are still hard headed at that point, they will learn very quickly when they get to the first vet stop and are having trouble meeting criteria. Now, I'm not saying I encourage new riders to race and learn from their mistakes at the first vet stop, but...we all have had to learn from mistakes at one point or another. If I were this guy and somebody would have "outed" me like this on ridecamp because I didn't know better or had a "different" idea about LD's due to my inexperience, I would probably be too embarrassed or too discouraged to ever even attempt a ride. My opinion is that more could be accomplished by making ride management aware of him - behind the scenes, via private e-mail or phone conversation. Somebody like ride management or a veterinarian could then face to face educate him about the dangers or possible consequences without publicly embarrassing him. Just my opinion. When I first started in 1999, I was getting ready for a 25 LD in Oklahoma. I lived in the sticks of the Ozark Mountains in Northwestern Arkansas. There were just a bunch of good ole boys, and certainly nobody at the beginning that educated me about the consequences of "racing" a young horse, properly legging him up, etc.etc. So, I drove to Oklahoma with these visions that I'm going to win this ever so important 25LD race - oh we were gonna take names and yes - as long as there was a clock, and awards for placement, we looked at it as a race. It sounded so exciting and it was all I could think about at the time. Thinking back now, I have to laugh about it - and I was VERY lucky to not have hurt my horse. But at my first ride I learned a lot. I talked to people - I watched and I listened. I made friends, and those friends influenced me with good information without casting judgement or embarrasing me about my "ideas" of 25 mile rides. I respect your concern. Catfish From: "apleg8'n" <rackinfool@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;> Subject: [RC] A sad story for AERC Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 18:30:14 -0800 _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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