ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: LD and personal goals

Re: LD and personal goals

Barbara Madill (WFMADILL.FMF@worldnet.att.net)
(no date)

At 05:38 PM 1/29/97 +0000, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-01-29 02:14:29 EST, you write:
>
><< > I challenge you to find a pleasure trail riding horse who can complete
> and vet check out a 25 mile ride.
Depends on definition and conditioning of a "Pleasure Trail Riding
Horse". My husband's idea of a pleasure ride is 10 - 12 miles in about an
hour to hour and a half. I won't bore you with the achievements each of us
and our two children had with this now 23 year old gelding. (50 mile
AERC's, 3 day 100's (ECHO)) My only point is that none of us should "label"
a group unless we are comparing apples to apples.
Don't mean to single you out, Sandy, but I can relate to fitting my
horse sports into the raising of a family. ANY goal we set for ourselves is
worthy and even mores satisfying when we achieve it. My vet teases me,
saying that she doesn't know anyone else who spends as much time practicing
for one or two competitions a year! (I think I use the excuse of those
competitions to justify the time I spend training!)
Also, any award at any contest does not necessarily prove excellence
of the animal, the training, the riding, or any other comparison. THAT day,
that terrain, that combination of condition, training, and a bit of good
fortune or divine providence is the final difference ---
As to the folks grumbling about trail manners at speed contests, if
you're participating in a contest where speed is the variable, you'd better
be able to ride with the "big boys" or figure out how to get out of their way!
How many people who've grumbled about how a ride is run have tried
to run one? I encourage anyone interested in long distance sports to help
trim trails, take P/R's, shuffle paperwork, be a human arrow, any of the
myriad jobs that need to be done and can help a rider learn the sport BEFORE
you compete for the first time (that goes for NATRC, ECTRA, SEDRA as well as
AERC)
In the early days of long distance in the east (when the only
distance for competition was 100 miles in three days), a rider had to have a
sponsor in order to be accepted for entry. Perhaps we could divise an award
for a team of experienced rider and his or her protogees -- kind of like
"pro am" in team penning!
BAM

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