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RE: [RC] WEC 2008 - Steph TeeterAlissa - the press and other disciplines weren't critical of the Aachen course, they were critical of the sport. Most of the rest of the Equestrian world never sees Endurance unless it is held in conjunction with a WEG. Regarding the technicality of endurance courses, that is more of a sport specific issue. The eventers, dressagers, drivers, jumpers, vaulters, reiners know little of the sport, nor of it's history. They just saw a lot of tired and lame horses. Remember - most of the press and spectators only see the action at the vet checks, and that in itself is a significant PR problem. (the other disciplines have people watching the 'good stuff' - the jumps and spins and piaffes and action) But still, when less than 50% of entries can even 'get around' without some level of metabolic distress or lameness... that simply doesn't look good. And simply throwing rocks on the trail might reduce the number of overheated or fatigued horses, but it would probably increase the number of horses that incur soft tissue injuries from twisted pasterns. Steph -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Alissa Cowan Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 3:36 PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] WEC 2008 Steph, Is what you're saying below that the people from other disciplines (dressage, show jumping, etc) thought the Aachen endurance course was too hard? Or are you saying that other endurance riders thought the course was too hard? Do you think that the FEI rides (races) with flat terrain, where horses finish quickly, are more appealing to the general press and other disciplines, anyway? They can see more of the race? Maybe they think it's more "humane" to have horses out running hard for 8 hours, instead of horses being ridden steadily for 15 hours on a technical course? What can we do to make the general press and the other disciplines realize that a technical course is not necessarily a bad thing? One last thing - how does a technical course, like the one at Aachen, relay the message of a lack of horsemanship? Wouldn't it display awesome horsemanship if one can get their horse through a ride like that? Seems we have a good bit of PR to do for the endurance sport in general, if this seems to be the tone from the general equestrian press. Alissa "Here's a real challenge: there are many in the sport(and in FEI as well) who feel that endurance courses need a greater level of 'technical' challenge. Some of the other disciplines were rather appalled after the Endurance competition in Aachen - the general press was not kind. They described it as 'too demanding, not enough horsemanship, too impersonal (grooms and pit crews), too disorganized, too hard on the horses...etc." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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