Re: letter to AERC president

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

It would be unfortunate if endurance riding were to go the way of the show
world where the competitions were divided between the "haves" and the
"have nots" where the "haves" compete in the rated/sanctioned events and
the "have nots" go to local/"schooling"/non-rated/non-sanctioned events. 

It is my observation that the big difference between the rated and the
non-rated shows is the price, and much of that is contributed to the
assortment of "fees" that I have to pay at a rated show. 

If I wanted to show my yearling in one in-hand class:

		Gold Coast Series 		OPA Show Series
Class Fee		$25.00				$6.00 (members $5
Drug Fee		  3.00				 3.00
PCHA Fee (per horse)	  3.00				  --
SVFHSA Fee (per horse)	  3.00				  --
LAHSA Fee(per horse/day)  3.00				  --
AHSA Fee (per horse)	  3.00				  --
PCHA Non-members	 10.00				  --
AHSA Non-members	 20.00	
Grounds fee(per hrs/day) 10.00				 5.00
			------				-----
Total			$80.00				14.00

BIG difference, and most of that difference is in the assorted "fees" that
one has to pay to assorted organizations ($42 instead of $1) that are
"sanctioning" the event.

So yeah, non-member fees are gonna make a difference in who comes to the
rides.  It may not make a difference in how many people come.  LD rides
have historically been "shooling" events...and schooling events,
generally, don't have huge membership fees associated with them.

kat
Orange County, Calif.