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Re: [RC] FEI Championships - kimfuessSteph,AERC rides may have a 60 % completion but AERC rides encompass ALL levels of riding, all levels of horses. I really don't know why you wouldn't expect a ride that has the very best horses a nation has to offer and the very best riders a nation has to have a better completion rate. If all AERC rides had the same level of horses and riders as a WEC, you bet I would be screaming about completion rates. But the fact is, that many AERC riders DO NOT have horses that are as talented as WEC horses, in fact many are backyard pets. Riders do not have the competition experience that many WEC riders have, many do this strictly as a hobby just a few time a year, and many (including myself) use AERC events as training rides for upcoming competitions. Yet the WEC events cannot even match the completion rate of AERC events. I haven't been to a WEC but I certainly don't have the impression that it is a demolition derby. I think that there are many very good riders, probably exceptional horsemen and horsewomen, and no doubt great horses. But to me, there is something inherently wrong when an event of this caliber, with the best horses and riders the world has to offer, with a course that has been designed by committee and tested before the event, etc. etc, etc. doesn't have a better completion rate. This is not just one WEC but the last several. Steph, what ideas do you personally have to get a better completion rate at the WEC? Do you really think that 40-50% is acceptable? If you do think this completion rate is OK, then this whole discussion you have started is a mute point. I think that many that have participated on this list would like to see "completion" somehow become more important in the overall picture of the WEC. Focus on completion balances the speed factor that is present in a one day event. If the problem isn't with the riders attitude and horsemanship, the team attitudes, the horses, where is the problem?? Is it the way the event is promoted by FEI? Is it the way FEI recognizes success at these events? There is certainly a problem somewhere in this picture if we as endurance riders and endurance race fans are only to expect a 40-50% completion rate from the best in the world. Pretty low expectations in my opinion. I personally just don't buy the arguement that 100 miles is NOW not the correct championship distance as it has always traditiionally been the championship distance in FEI. To me, it is the easy way out to basically make the race shorter in the hopes that more horses will finish. If the overall speed is the factor that is eliminating so many horses from the competition whose responsibility is it to lessen the influence of the speed factor and put more influence on the completion factor. Does this fall to the individual rider, the team, the chef d'equipe, the organizers, the organization that set rules, recognition, etc. Again, if the goal is not to find ways to get a better completion rate then 40-50%, why are we even bothering to discuss this issue? Kim Fuess ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steph Teeter" <stephteeter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 10:11 AM Subject: [RC] FEI Championships I think some of you need to attend a World Championship and see for yourself =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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