Karen
in Gardnerville
& Weaver
& Rocky
------
I can certainly sympathize. I am one of those that has a hard time
sleeping if it is noisy. I just am resigned that at an endurance
ride it will be noisy, but on the other hand, you hope that since
people are going to be getting up at an ungodly hour, they will go
to bed early.
At Camp Far West, we had the kids sleeping at 9:30. My husband and
I took a short walk and were ready for bed at 10:30. I was tired.
The camp was quiet. Then the lady next to us started banging truck
and trailer doors, opening and shutting trunks, and making a racket!
She was at this (who knows what the hell she was doing-my husband
said probably rebuilding her engine) until 12:15! I almost went
over there several times, but was too much of a wimp. Next day
after the ride, I was really tired and decided to take a nap. (keep
in mind this lunatic lady had kept me up, and I had mentally dragged
my 8 year old daughter through her first ride) I tried to get the
kids to nap, and so we were arguing for an hour over that in the
tent. Finally I got up and started to break down camp. AFter about
an hour of that (I was making a racket), I realized the lady was
trying to take a nap in her trailer. My first feelings were of
guilt I had been so noisy, then I sort of went "hehehehehhe". Oh
well!
-speaking of other rude people, there were some folks at Mendo that
were conscending and unfriendly AFTER we told them we were only
doing the 25....This is a lousy attitude. This may get into a
discussion of 25's, verus 50's, but here are a few of my thoughts.
-My horse came in from the 25 in fine shape. I feel pretty
confident she could have done another 25. A horse nearby was
at camp during the lunch break on the 50, THAT horse looked, to
me, absolutely exhausted. But I guess the vets passed it through.
Still, if my horse was standing with his head to the ground, I
doubt I could bear to haul her out on another 25 miles.
-I don't understnad the total distain for the 25 milers. Often
these entries alow the ride to even be put on. There are people
that only want to do 25's, don't care about points or anything.
I hear lots of criticism of folks that "race" 25's, but none for
folks that race 50's. To me, if a horse races a 25 in two hours,
versus the horse that races the 50 in 3 hours, the horse doing the
50 is both going faster and farther. If the horse on the 25 is a
mature horse, what is the problem?? If someone has a mature horse,
and wants to do fast 25's, and their horses do fine, then, to me,
this is less destructive to the horse than those doing competitive
50's.
-Some people just physically can't do a 50. Yet, they can
participate in the ride, go through the vet checks, and learn
a ton about the sport, conditioning, tack fitting, etc. I
don't see any need for seasoned or competitive endurance riders
to be rude to them. This attitude will not encourage riders to
return to the sport or graduate to 50's.
-Also speaking of rude, can't believe how many folks bring their
dogs to the ride. If they are riding the 50, their dogs are left
in camp all day, usually barking. How rude and inconsiderate to
everyone else. At the Mendo ride, Lari had a rule of all dogs on
leash on her application. Yet, there were dogs wandering around,
one totally clueless person brought their loose dog to the VET IN!
I'm not talking about Lari's dogs; there were lots of other loose
dogs, and several dog fights.
-Yes, it is a camping situation, lots of people, rigs pulling in,
horses neighing. Yet, people can exercise some common sense and
consideration for others. I would expect and hope that folks would
be sleeping and quiet by at least 10-certaihnly not the case at the
rides I have been at.
-Well, there are some of my gripes and thoughts.
Karen S.
Ashley
Chancey
To: ENDURANCE@MOSCOW.COM