Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

From: "Ranelle Rubin" <raneller@xxxxxxx>

> I have chosen to drive 3 hrs to a ride instead
> of do one 10 min from my house because I
> disagreed with a particular route they chose,
> and felt it was not in the best interest of my
> horse to do that ride. I spoke privately
> to the RM, was clear on the facts, and did not
> enter. I "voted with my feet." I did not, however
> get on Ridecamp or spread my beliefs around which
> would have certainly caused other riders to elect
> not to enter.
Like most voting, voting with your feet is better at effecting change if
you can get other people to vote with you.  HAD you gotten on Ridecamp
and spread your beliefs around and caused other riders to elect not to
enter, you would have been more likely to get the ride manager to change
the course in the future.

THIS is what I meant by stating that sometimes publicly complaining can
be an effective method of provoking change, and yes, it requires time
and effort to do so.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)

While I agree that decending to personal attacks about ride records
(which went both ways, btw, and Bruce "attacked" Jim's record
first--although "he started it" is a pretty childish whine) can have the
unintended consequence of discouraging non-participants in a debate from
what would otherwise be preferred behaviour at endurance rides for fear
of having their records discussed publicly, it is also true that if one
wants to be convincing in public statements it is sometimes necessary to
highlight the past experiences that the people making the statements are
speaking from.

It is, in fact, interesting to note that both Bruce and Jim (after
having their ride records brought up by each other) felt the need to
give further explanation for them in order to "justify" their actions
that led to the records in question.  And all riders can benefit from
reading these explanations while at the same time encouraging people not
to "rush to judgement" because there may be perfectly good explanations
for the condensed version of somebody's actions.

CLAERLY (and we know this because the records were brought up) Bruce and
Jim are speaking from different experiences.  Knowing this helps
everybody to understand where their opinions are coming from, and
consequently to better evaluate their validity for their own
circumstances.

With respect to the stigma associated with having to have your horse
treated at a ride, this stigma is a two-edged sword.  Yes, the stigma
associated with it may discourage people who have horses that need to be
treated from having them treated; however, the stigma associated with it
may also encourage people to be more careful in how they ride their
horses so that they won't have to have them treated.

The current effort to remove the stigma associated with having your
horse treated at a ride, if successful, may have as many unintended
consequences (i.e. people may become more cavalier about overriding
their horse to the point where it needs treatment) as having a stigma
associated with it.



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