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RE: [RC] LD rides/endurance/dressage, etc - LaFollett, Megan

I try to avoid getting involved in the LD/endurance/awards type
arguments, as I'm ridiculously unqualified to participate in such a
discussion in that I have never participated in an endurance (or LD)
ride. (Great horse, great training miles, no horse trailer, no friend
with horse trailer, NO $$...still dreaming of riding AERC). Anyway, the
quote below has induced me to go against my better judgement and jump in
for a quick two-cents. I do not think it is fair to say that anyone who
expresses a desire for BC awards at the LD level is "simply after an
award" -- just as it is not true to say that people in showing are only
in it for the awards. I was one of the top ten IHSA "Advanced Western
Horsemanship" riders in the nation a few years ago, and received plenty
of awards. But my greatest memory from that experience was when a team
member who had previously been ranked far higher than me on the team
came up and said that if our team made it to nationals, she wanted me to
represent our college because of the hard work I had put in and
improvement I had made. My awards are in a plastic tote somewhere in my
barn. However, I really enjoyed getting awards recognizing my
achievements...our walk-trot members really enjoyed getting awards
recognizing their achievements...but none of us were simply in it for
the awards. To get to the point, I think if our walk-trot team didn't
get awards, they probably would have felt left out when we went through
the awards ceremony at the end and didn't give any awards to them just
because they were only "in training" for jumping or reining. I can
imagine how a new LD rider, or a long-time LD-only rider, might feel
left out or slighted as well. But it is clearly the ride manager's
prerogative to choose whether or not to include LD awards and record
completion times. We have all learned, hopefully, to get over the slight
disappointment of not being officially recognized and focus on the good
times on the trail. 

Well, there's my not-so-quick two cents after all...

Megan
(and Pride, who wishes this nasty wind would stop so we could go for a
good long run)




"I'm thinking there are a number of people who should be riding other
disciplines if they want to be given awards no matter what their level.
If the only thing you're after is an award, go into showing or another
arena event. "

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