<<< It is this stipulation that allows USEF management teams to control?shoeing, feed, training decisions if they desire.?jt>>>
?Well, that is yet another of the reasons you'd NEVER see me participate in a WEC ride.... After hearing the horror stories from one of my local endurance club members that made it into the WEC several years ago (among which, was her horse being lamed up totally by the team farrier deciding the angles on the horse needed hacking away at, and doing it drastically...her horse was not the only one on the team either suffering this... and telling the riders to ride in a strategy counter to what they believed their horses were good at...afterall, the riders got to that level by riding their horses to the best of it's capabilities...to totally change those strategies completely...well, no wonder we finish last all the time, or have so many horses pulled before they ever make it to the finish), I sure was shaking my head at it all...She also decided not to ever do a WEC again... I could not give control over my horse to some organization that does not know it, have them change everything, maybe even have someone else ride it? Nope... But then, I am always told I am not a good "team" player...guess that is another reason I do endurance...the only team is me and my horse...and that is a partnership, not a team. And I would not want to ever screw that up cause some person who doesn't know a thing about us, that sees us for three weeks at most before a huge event (one will hope with Kentucky, maybe we can pick a team further ahead and train them sooner and longer...) decides how I should ride my horse...?
Anyway, just my two cents...I will go back to lurking again...
??Natalie (wondering if we ever had a 5-day WEC, how some of our horses would do, vs these superspeed 100 milers)
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... 'Wow! What a ride!' "
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