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I am another old timer who steadfastly agrees with what Joe has to say. 
There are far too many things happening in our society that make challenges 
easier.  As a nation, we are softening and there are far too many folks who 
want, and have, life easier that is should be.  I live a wonderful life, 
full of nice conveniences, but if I lost all of those tomorrow, I could 
still survive comfortably.  I believe that endurance riding offers us all 
the opportunity to tough it out a little bit, and that is a sobering 
experience.  It's a conditioning experience, just as riding our horses up 
hill after hill conditions them for the work ahead.  We NEED to have it a 
little tougher than normal to make us strong.
Off my soapbox now......

Barbara

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Long" <jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 1:44 PM
Subject: [RC] Do words matter?


> I'm sure some folks wonder why I bother to continue to write about the
> meaning of "endurance ride" and "endurance rider" each time this
> subject comes up, as it does at least a couple of times every year.
> And some have dismissed the whole issue as "nothing but semantics" or
> "who cares what somebody calls themselves?"
>
> OK, there are several reasons why I do it.  These are the two biggest:
>
> 1.  An endurance ride is not a trivial thing.  Riding one horse 50
> miles or more in one day may seem like no big deal to some of us "old
> timers," but it is quite a big deal to most people.  It's not
> something that a person can just up and decide to do one day, grab ol'
> dobbin out of the pasture, and succeed.  It is a genuine challenge
> that requires not only the native ability, but preparation and
> dedication.  We properly recognize and reward success at that effort.
>
> Frankly, I don't like it when people who want everything "easy" want
> to have that recognition, and those rewards, without doing what it
> takes to EARN them.  Instead of showing the dedication, and doing the
> preparation, and putting forth the effort to RIDE an endurance ride,
> they want to ride half the distance and still be called "endurance
> riders."  I object to that, and I will continue to object to that.  It
> may be the modern "American Way" to just give everyone "recognition"
> without their having to work for it, but it's not my way.
>
> I'm sure some folks just think I'm a mean old curmudgeon because I
> won't go along with LD riders (or CTR riders or "fun run" riders)
> being considered to be "endurance riders."  Well, them's the breaks.
> I'm not in a popularity contest.  I will continue to defend the idea
> of setting a goal, then WORKING to achieve it, rather than just saying
> you did it to feel good.
>
> 2.  The AERC properly keeps endurance miles and LD miles separate.  If
> we did not, no one could tell from a horse or rider's mileage stats
> how much was endurance miles, if any at all.  We can keep the miles
> separate because the AERC Bylaws define an endurance ride as 50 miles
> or more per day.  If we change the definition of an endurance ride to
> 25 miles or more per day, what rationale will we have for not counting
> 25 mile rides in the endurance totals?  We will have further cheapened
> the sport, to where the mileage records will no longer mean much.
>
> IOW, if we don't defend the language, if we don't defend the
> definition of an endurance ride, we will be giving in to the "I want
> it easy" crowd and we will have lost something that was once quite
> precious.  I think that's worth defending, even if we have to do it
> over and over again.
>
> Joe Long
> AERC #1
> Distance Rider, Endurance Rider, and Marathon Runner.
>
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