[RC] [Fwd: Ride and Tie] - Bruce Weary DC-------- Original Message --------
Okay, I'm bored this morning, and anxiously awaiting departure for the convention, so I thought I'd throw out another idea for discussion. There has been some debate over whether endurance riding should or will become an Olympic sport. Personally, I think at that level of competition, with gold medals at stake, the horses would potentially suffer, possibly on worldwide television. I think there are those who would pursue a gold medal more voraciously than a money purse, as you can't buy a gold medal. That's another debate in itself. However, I wonder what the interest would be on behalf of the public and the Olympic Committee in seeing Ride and Tie as an Olympic event. I think it would capture a lot of people's imagination. Maybe remind people of the "olden days" when we were so dependent on the horse for transportation and our very survival. I have never done a Ride and Tie, but it seems that the horse might be less apt to be abused in the way he parti cipates. It might even the playing field amongst the competing countries, as the US can field some pretty impressive runners. I think we could teach world class runners to ride more easily than we could teach world class riders to run. Anybody have thoughts on this? Bruce Weary
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