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RE: [RC] convention report/AERC directions - Chris KaznowskiPeter Harper wrote <<<<Where do we want to be as a sport in 20 years?>>> OK I'll start, using Denny's points as a jumping off point. Info up front, I'm a relatively new member (long time rider and crew, though) and at this point only interested in LD for me. That said, one of the disturbing things about the convention was the age distribution I saw. Quite skewed toward the middle aged (I'm in this group if we consider the endpoint to be 100 years). So in 20 years, where are our replacements? Granted, not all members get to the convention. But what about the local area population? Where are they? I do see some younger adults at rides, but not a whole heck of a lot of those either. Denny did make a point of saying that we could look at a young riders program similar to those in other USEF disciplines. Young riders there are from about 16 to about 25. We of course could use any ages. There are clinics, classes and competitions geared to them. Endurance people are wonderful educators and incredibly helpful, both in person, on Ridecamp (generally) and in Endurance News, as Patty Steadman did this past year. Inspirational, really. But I think you have to already know an endurance rider to get bitten by the bug. That's certainly what happened to me. Perhaps AERC could consider more formal outreach in the horse disciplines. (I don't know how bad our budget crunch is, as I said, I attended the symposia at the convention, not the working sessions) In my local area, one ride that I know makes a tremendous effort to educate and attract new recruits. These wonderful proselytizers (in the Oakland Hills ride) put on a 15 mi fun ride with a special presentation for those riders. This seems to be a friendly approach to the conversion of non AERC to AERC. The discipline of eventing includes everybody from beginner novice with relatively straight forward obstacles and tests to the advanced 3 day which is formidable. So include all of us. You don't have to give fantastic awards to the lower levels (there are as yet no Gold Medals at beginner novice) but keep encouraging and educating in some formal way to keep new people coming in. The AERC is doing a good job, I just think there must be some creative thinkers out there to help us do better. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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