Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I haven't been riding endurance nearly as long as Phil, but I certainly agree with what he says.  I have always been against weight divisions.  I, like Phil, have ridden small horses that outperformed larger ones.  And one of my small horses carried my husband, a heavywt. rider, to a very close second place on a 50-miler. That horse was 14.2 and weighed 750#.  I now have a horse that is probably about the same size and he is the strongest little guy on steep uphills.  He carries my weight (and I am a heavy midwt.) with ease.

I would like to see us go back to no weight divisions and only one adult national champion and one junior national champion.  I also would like to see us go back to some other format than the one national championship ride each year.  I was on the BoD when we changed the format, because so many riders were clamoring for "one head to head race" to determine the national champion, but we have gotten too far away from any real significance to our "champions" because there are too many of them.  The one race to determine national champion does not allow enough people to participate due to travel time and distance.  I have long wished for our original format where any rider, in any region, could go after the national championship by entering enough races and garnering enough points to come out on top.  We do need to have enough restrictions in place to prevent riders from repeating some of the shenanigans that were perpetrated some years ago.  Maybe the restriction should be limited to a one rider/one horse team.  After all, we ARE talking about enduring...

 

Barbara McCrary
Ride Mgr., Swanton Pacific 75/100
"The Most Beautiful Trail in the World"

 

See our Website: http://members.cruzio.com/~bigcreekranch

----- Original Message -----

From: Phil Gardner

To: Ride Camp

Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 9:46 AM

Subject: RE: [RC] Weight of horse and rider

Heidi Helly said:

 

> Besides that, to make it truly fair, the weight of the horse in

> proportion to the rider would have to be used to be fair.

> A heavyweight on an 1100 lb. mount is better off than me on my 14.1

> hand pony sized guy who weighs 750 !

 

 

You would think this would be true.  I am 6-1 and my horse usually carries around 225 lb.  I am 62 and have done endurance since I was 18.  One of the best horses I have ever had was a little Arab mare who was 13-3 hands and weighed 700lb.  The proportion of my weight to hers was way out of whack, but she carried me with ease on 50?s, out performing my 15+ hand horses. 

 

There are so many factors that go into performance on an endurance ride; the natural athletic ability of the horse and rider, training, feed, how each individual is feeling on that day, temperature, horsemanship skills of the rider, mental stability under pressure (for both horse and rider), weight carried, and the list goes on and on.  Why single out weight for special consideration.  I have seen 100?s where the top five riders were all heavy weights.  After 44 years of endurance riding my gut feeling is that factors other than weight carried have the most influence how well you do.  

 

The thing that made endurance so attractive to me was that it was a sport where your performance was what counted.  When you finished a ride it was a real accomplishment, not just someone?s opinion of your performance.  I would like to see AERC get back to its roots.

 

Phil Gardner