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Re: [RC] when can you call yourself an endurance rider - Sharon LevasseurMy experience is a little different than Erick's but the meat is the same. Here in Maine we only have 1-2 endurance rides during the entire year, so I started out in CTR, not LD. My first year I did a few CTRs and then tackled the Pine Tree 50, finished last but caught the endurance bug. Three years later, here I am with only two endurance 50s under my belt (both of them the Pine Tree) and I'm managing my own brand new endurance ride, being held this weekend! I'm doing my part to keep endurance alive in Maine now that the Northeast Challenge is gone (dropping us to only the Pine Tree and now my own Hot Toddy Hustle). By the way... looks like I'm gonna lose my shirt on this one despite keeping costs as low as possible... but do I really care? Not as long as I can still pay the electric bill when all is said and done. Someday when we are ready, we too will join the ranks of 100-mile horses and riders but we won't be able to get there by relying on 50-mile endurance rides to get ready, not even by doing LDs. They just aren't available. My horse and I will get most of our preparatory competition in CTRs. Despite this, I am an endurance rider. My horse is an endurance horse, it's in his heart just like it is in mine. Do I ever tell people that I am an "experienced endurance rider"? NO!!! I'm a neophyte and I tell people so. And no, I have no interest in FEI despite my determination to do a 100 when we are ready. -Sharon L. & Zephyr, in Maine Quoting Erick Larson <paradigm@xxxxxxxxxxx>: Cindy said: It's bad enough to have people running around saying they are endurance riders or advertising their horses as endurance horses when they've done a couple of LD rides! Cindy I don't know Cindy; I have never met her or even heard of her. But it is statements like those above that are keeping new people away from the sport. Perhaps Cindy, with her 8,000+ miles, has forgotten what is like to be new and enthused about doing something they previously thought unobtainable. LD's are a "vehicle" to entice newbie's into the sport. It worked for my wife and me. We did a few, liked them, and this year have moved up to the 50's. I don't know Truman either, but from the discussion so far I surmise that the SEDRA program is also designed to excite and encourage new people to take the next step. Perhaps his system is not yet perfected, but the intent is there and it seems to be a step in the right direction. Instead of trashing the idea why not work to change it for the better? I do not intend to start the whole LD is not endurance discussion. That horse has been beaten to death. I just don't appreciate the "holier than thou" attitude that some long time riders hold. Some bemoan the decline of the 100 while at the same time making fun of and belittling those who are just starting out in the sport with the LD's. HELLO.. Those LD riders are the next crop of 100 riders! I hate posts that are only negative without offering solutions. So I would like to encourage those who have been around a while and have done many rides in many years to become mentors. I truly appreciate the support and advice that my wife and I received from Jane Cloud (West) when we first started. She graciously allowed us to train with her and I even volunteered at her ride: the DelValle Vulture Venture, while my wife rode the LD and top tenned. When we moved to Tennessee last year we knew no one here. After a chance encounter on the Natchez Trace with Angie Fura, my wife and I found another group of riders willing to help newcomers and share their experiences. Many thanks to Angie, Eva, Jackie, Wendy, and Clay for their fellowship and advice. They let us ride with them and have extended future invitations. Their encouragement has helped my wife to be more confident in her ability to continue to do the 50's. I pestered them continuously with questions and they answered every one. This sport needs the experienced riders, ALL of them, to act like those above who helped me. I challenge each of you to recruit one new person to the sport next year. Whether they ride a 50 or an LD or even a 10 mile fun run is not important. The introduction to the sport and the excitement and enthusiasm you can impart will be infectious. I have already picked out a new recruit and hope to drag them to a ride next year. I'm done.. You can all go back to discussing the politics of the WEG and FEI now. That's much more important to the long term health of the sport, right? -E- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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