Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

First, it truly surprises me that as of 31-Mar-2007, there is not
even one post regarding the 3rd FEI World Endurance Forum.

There has been discussion on Ridecamp concerning the relationship
between AERC and USEF/FEI. The biggest concern voiced seems to be
that an internationally televised debacle, perhaps involving
endurance horses dying or attached to iv's by the hundreds, would
very likely have a severely negative impact on Endurance here in the
United States. Between aggressively pro-active animal rights/welfare
groups and pandering politicians, the fear that our sport could be
outlawed by Congress seems more than a little justified.

The question is how do we, AERC, protect ourselves from such an
outcome? While the current wisdom is to continue to work with USEF
and FEI to improve the lot of the horses who compete at international
levels, I would respectfully disagree that this path will prove
successful. At the WEF, Art Prietz delivered our Group IV statement
in which he said, "Four years ago, the points we raised in our
presentation ("Go, Tell the Spartans") remain valid. The problems
remain as well, all too familiar. It makes us think of the poem about
the path not taken. We ask all of you to think back to that
presentation, compare it to the discussions today, and choose that
path today." Although I do not have access to the presentations made
in 2002 or 2003, it is clear from Mr Priesz's comments that we, and
presumably others, made declarations then concerning the welfare of
the horses and here, 4 years later, the situation is worse, not
better. I believe the definition of insanity is doing the same thing
over and over and expecting different results and that one human flaw
is the belief that if we do something and it doesn't work, the best
plan is to do it harder, spend more effort and money on it. I submit
that working with USEF/FEI has been a waste of time in terms of any
benefit to THE AVERAGE AERC RIDER OR HORSE. Yes it's helped the
internationally bound, but AERC isn't an international organization.
It is an American one, currently defined as Canada and the USA.
Unless AERC can become not just a more influential force in USEF but
the DOMINATING force, to save our own skins we MUST redirect our
focus back to our roots, the plain vanilla, I want to have a fun
weekend rider. If we remain tied, even if the tie is only perceived,
to organizations bent on presenting Endurance as a race where only
the winner and the handful of horses who finish within a short time
of said winner matter, then when USEF and FEI fall... we will fall
too. The average horse-loving citizen won't give a rat's ass that WE
believe To Finish Is To Win. They will have seen for themselves, in
living color on worldcast television, what Endurance really is, ie,
the trashing of beautiful animals to win, not compete for, to WIN a
lousy medal.

Aside from the abject failure of AERC to influence the international
community to focus on enduring over racing, why else do I feel this
policy is bankrupt:

1) USEF has demonstrated that its own Endurance High Performance
committee is controlled far more by select and insulated individuals
within USEF's structure than by the Endurance-riding members of that
committee (ref the Chef d'Equipe episode last year).
2) USEF reserves the right to swap out horses and riders at its
discretion, without regard to the team aspect of each horse and rider
combination.
3) In the last 12 years, international endurance races have become
faster and the completion rates have plummeted.
4) Putting horses on iv's has become the norm, especially for the 90%
that don't finish.
5) There are proposals, though not in great favor, to lower the
standard of excellence from 100 miles (160 km) to 50ish miles (80 km)
or at the very least, have additional, shorter "Championships".
[Aside - gee, I wonder where they got THAT idea.]
6) There is support for the Formula One concept, ie, ending endurance
races at some set time after the first horse crosses the finish line
as opposed to allowing all competitors the CHANCE TO FINISH (win?).

So what can we do? Stop competing internationally? Not
necessarily. But we can lay down to USEF some ultimatums and we had
better do it sooner rather than later. Here are just two and if the
current governance of our AERC-I would deep 6 the thinking that they
are subservient to the needs and goals of USEF, I am sure they could
come up with much, better, solid, workable proposals:

1) AERC, not USEF, must be the sole authority in selecting, training
and managing the USA Endurance squad. The current sop to us that
AERC is "...the official Federation affiliated endurance discipline
organization" needs to be changed to a more tangible reality. Just
as individual RM's cannot supercede the decisions of their vets
because when it comes to things veterinarian, it is the vets who know
best, using the same reasoning, hunter/jumper/dressage/eventing types
(or worse, just plain back-slapping USEF politicos) should not
dictate to or supercede the decisions of AERC chosen representatives
regarding things Endurance.
2) Delegates to the FEI or to any other group or council, with
respect to Endurance, must be chosen by AERC, not USEF.

If we haven't the guts to throw down the gauntlet and demand that USA
Endurance teams embody AERC principles, then perhaps official
withdrawal from the international scene, as heart-breaking as that
will be, may be our only option. Why? Because if we don't, we may
well lose everything. The problem AERC will face is not one of fact;
it is one of perception. We are an organization of AMATEUR riders
whose primary goal is to spend time with our horses and have fun
competing, playing, associating with like-minded people. We are NOT
dedicated to pursuing gold at the international level. But what does
the public know of us? Basically nothing. Splash dying endurance
horses on the TV and they will know us, or more correctly, THINK they
know us. We must plan to avoid that calamity. When the day of
reckoning comes for these faster races with fewer horses completing
and more dying, we must already be firmly in front of the American
public as an organization that cares deeply about the welfare of our
horses, that views a horse and rider as a TEAM, not interchangable
parts of a racing machine. To lose it all in the pursuit of Olympic
Gold would be tragic.

We must increase our expenditures for advertising, not to the horse
world (a basically Cabots speaking with Lodges affair), but to the
vast American public. Remember the anti-Goldwater ad with the little
girl holding a flower and then being whited out by a nuclear
explosion? That ad was run over 40 years ago and yet it is still
vividly in my mind's eye. That is the level of imagery we need to
present - searingly pro-horse, pro-safety, pro-Endurance, pro-AERC.

Pay me now, pay me later.

Diane Trefethen
AERC # 2691


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