I am no expert either, but from what I can see from
the photos (hughes photography), the riders have a lot to deal with.
Besides the Rock itself, and the slope and the crowds, and all that, it seems
there is that big "WEB PROOF" sign you have to dodge around.
At a ride in Indiana a few months ago, when the
ride photographer brought in the books of the ride photos,
some woman , who apparantly gave riding lessons, started yelling about
how I ( in the photos there) was the worst balanced rider she had ever seen. She
was passing the photos around to her friends exclaiming about how badly I was
riding. It turned out she had done the 2 days on two different horses and both
days finished well behind me on my one horse. I asked her if I had ridden so
poorly, did it mean I had to give back my completion awards?
One of the many great parts about Endurance Riding
is that we are not judged for style, which is subjective, but only whether we
finish. As long as you don't fall off too many times, and you get a
sound horse to the finish line, your riding is good enough. While I do
appreciate those who ride more "correctly", I'm glad it is not a required part
of our sport.
But when you look at the Cougar Rock photos, it
does seem that survival, (of rider and horse) has overridden "good riding
form".....Which is as it should be.
