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[RC] Colombia - seminar, dinner, friends - stephteeterI've heard people refer to the Endurance community as 'one big family'. It's really true, and seems truer the more I travel and meet other crazy people that do this sport. There's an immediate connection, we're all made of the same stuff basically. We can't help our addiction to horses, it's in our blood. We're a little bit rebellious, not content with the confines of a mere trail ride, or the rigours of arena work, eager to see what's around the next corner, willing to compete with each other, but even more willing to help if need be. And regardless of the country, or continent, we speak the same language. Today was the last day of the seminar (half day) and we spent it watching videos. We played the AERC video made for veterinarians (made by Tom and Cindy Greer at the Red Rock NC in Nevada) - it's a great way to show how we do the sport, and provided a perfect situation for discussing all of the issues of putting on rides. The veterinary criteria - what they are, how they're applied, how to deal with the myriad situations that arise during the ride - problems, concerns, consistencies, etc. Some of the basic philosophies of managing a ride, obligations, allowances which need to be made by both the managers and the riders. These folks are so eager to learn - they ask all types of questions, from the very technical to the very basic. They really want to do it right, and it seems that in their pursuit of FEI Endurance, they still have a lot of respect for the 'finish is to win' aspect of Endurance. They have deep respect for their horses' welfare, and obviously have a lot of personal pride in their own individual horses. Some import horses, some breed them, some find local horses - it's really a mix, much like in the USA. After the Vet video we played the Florac video - Gregory had picked it up when he was in France last year. It's really well done, and the images of the horses, the mountains, made us all start thinking of a trip to France. We followed the Florac with Abu Dhabi - The Presidents Cup. A great contrast, and equally compelling. A fun way to wrap up a fairly technical session. I have to say again that Dinah put together a fantastic program - a thorough overview of the sport of Endurance, and the fundamentals of training, competing and management. It was very cool to put everything together - from nutrition and training to saddle fit and shoeing. There were several vets that attended the seminar, and they filled in a lot of information, as well as translating more technical aspects. One of the main farriers was there as well and helped with the discussion on balanced hooves and shoeing issues. Pretty cool. The program wrapped up with the ride briefing for next week's competition. Carolina Barraquer is one of the dedicated indivuals behind the Endurance effort here. She's actually a 4th level Dressage rider, setting her sights on the 2010 WEG in Lexington. She's a member of the Federation's Dressage technical committee, and is bringing her experience and energy to bear to help the Endurance discipline get started. She is the primary organizer of next week's event, and presented the details for the ride, the technical briefing. Very comprehensive and professional. Diego Arboleta is the Endurance 'techie' and used his garmin 305 (he rode the trail and collected the data) and software, along with Google Earth, to create some fantastic maps, complete with elevation data. Very nicely done. He's also the individual who is keeping a database for the rides to date - just doing it on his own, with hopes that eventually the Federation will evolve an official database for tracking horses and riders and results. - more later, time for bed! 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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