In a message dated 10/7/2007 11:35:19 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
FXLivestock@xxxxxxx writes:
It would
be one thing if AERC was an organization that was set up to groom horses
towards high level competition and racing but it is not and it should not
be. There is a gap that is not being filled either by USEF or by AERC I
and I think that is part of the problem.
Kim, I don't know how anyone could have put it better. I would think that,
given the ultimate goal of participating in USEF events, as our junior stallion
is doing right now i open jumping, that either USEF or a similar org with
similar structure and goals would and should fill that gap - but that
takes a group of people stepping out on their own - costly and requiring
tremendous work.
I had mentioned once before :) about the NSH coming in on the shirttails of
AHRA and IAHA, and it was really not a good thing for the PB Arabian nor its
rank and file owners. It sucked resources, money and time from
AHRA/IAHA, then kicked us all to the curb. It also set up a framework for other
breeds to promote their stallions and then get within the now AHA framework and
org. as half Arabians. Over the past 30 something years, the Arabian
horse has been kicked about, and interestingly enough, for the past 2 years,
registrations of PB Arabians are DOWN! While I personally consider that a good
thing (that not everything with plumbing gets bred), what bothers me about it is
that many rank and file Arabian owners have been supplanted in many areas of
heretofore Arabian experiences by half breeds, as if now the PB Arabian is
inferior or subordinate to the new "breeds". APPLICATION?
AERC began to serve the desires of a group of 'renegade" riders who
wanted to ride and ride and ride some more - and finish with a fit horse. The
technical aspect of endurance seems to be increasingly lost, both as it is
supplanted by flat rides HERE and mainly abroad. AERC would best serve its
membership IMHO by sticking to its origins and allowing USEF to find, support,
organize its own plan and goals. AERC should never feel compelled to be a
support structure and certainly not a cornerstone for another organization. AERC
- I is perhaps something of an oxymoron, and USEF should police its own store -
it certainly has enough business. I the end, if asked, most of us who CAN afford
to ride and have a decent horse have very little interest in paying the costs
associated with another organization. If and when we DO want to do so, we know
where to go!:)
