Re: Unofficial WEG Team

[K S Swigart <katswig@deltanet.com>]

On Wed, 14 Oct 1998, Carlos Crespo wrote:

> I looked up the team rosters for the World Championships in Kansas.
> Out of 16 countries competing only 6 countries had a full 6 member
> team (USA, Australia, Canada, Chile, Sweden, and UAE). Even France
> who won the silver medal competed with only 5 team members. The real 
> copetition here was in the individual placings, the team competition
> was already stacked in our favor. 

Teams only have 4 members, no matter how many riders the country
sends/gets to send (so even though there were 12 US riders in Kansas, only
4 of them were part of the "team" event).   Teams can compete with either
3 members or 4 members.  Extra riders don't count, and if you only have
two, you can't play in the team eevent either.

> As I see it, our goal should be to take the first six places in the World 
> Championships. Then there is no doubt  about  who is the best. Let the 
> other guy worry about the consistant  finishers in the 7-25 place.

You may see as a worthy goal, but as a team riding strategy it would
probably be pretty ineffective.  Additionally, having a single qualifying
event to determine the 6 people to go would be unlikely to give you the 6
best horse/rider teams to pursue this goal.

What the FEI really needs to make Carlos happy is a World Cup of Endurance
(which is not a team event) like those that they have in show jumping and
dressage.  All the riders in the world accumulate points during the course
of the ride year to qualify to the World Cup event, and each individual
gets to attend based on that performance (no matter how many from which
countries).  Then they have the event, and one individual wins the event.

Personally, I would ilke to see this kind of event in endurance.  ANd
leave the team event/s to USET.  And USET has the responsibility of
fielding the team that has the best chance of winning.  In doing this,
USET is not required to be "fair."

kat
Orange County, Calif.