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[RC] What did you learn at the convention? - rides2far@xxxxxxxxTo those who went to the convention and actually got to go to the lectures...I'm envious! I was so busy getting ready for talks, or signing books at my booth that I didn't get to attend anything. Now I'm writing an article for a magazine that wants to know what happened at the convention...so? As I read the line up of speakers I could kick myself for being there and not setting up my camcorder to video the things. What was the overall conclusion you drew from the Pride Project study? One person said it was that "normal" for an endurance horse isn't necessarily what had been considered "normal" blood profiles for the general horse public in the past. Comments? Anyone got Trish Dowling's e-mail address? Dr. Schott reported on "Why Horses Don't Finish Endurance Rides". Anyone take notes on statistics or anything? I don't have to report these as *fact* but trends are interesting to alude to. INTERNATIONAL Word I heard from the International meeting was that they're actually giving strong consideration to dropping the World Championship mileage to 75 miles and having the "Grand Prix Finish" where if you're not finished within a certain percentage of the winner's time you're simply awarded points for how far you got, being stopped at the next vet check. If you were there...comments? (don't have time for a big discussion on how we feel about this idea...though I'm leaning towards being content for them to form their own sport that's that different from ours and leaving us be with our 100's!) Someone on RC commented that in Becky's talk a show of hands was asked for as to how many were interested in International and 3 or 4 raised their hands. Is that so? Could anyone comment on talks by: Julie Suhr (Trail Etiquette) Angie McGhee (Realist's Guide or Why do I do this?) Victoria Maxwell DVM (Joint Health) Tom Sayvetz, MD (Pedigrees & breeding for Endurance) Olin Balch (Farriery Preferences of Endurance Riders) Olin Balch (wet labs) Backy Hart & Robin Groves (Training to Ride a More Competitive 100) John Crandell II, Steve Rojek, Ruth Waltenspiel, Connie Driskell & Jan Jeffers (Ask the Experts) Erin Klentos (3 years development Plan) Come on guys, share what you learned! (Man I wish I could have listened to them all!) My take from the convention is that AERC's emphasis now is on LONGEVITY. I had already come to this conclusion when I asked Mike Maul, the new president, what he would like to be the emphasis during his term. His immediate answer was "Longevity". Our awards (Pard'ners, & Hall of Fame went to horses with 10,000+ miles.) Many talks were on soundness, shoeing & joint health. Not a lot of emphasis on speed other than Becky's talk and from what I read on RC sounds like the people who went to that talk were more interested in completing...which again appears to be a split between the mass of AERC and the International emphasis. Even our fast horses are only glorified *after* they've stood the test of time. Comments? You've got about 8 hrs to enlighten me. :-) Angie Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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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