RE: ridecamp-d Digest V98 #974

[Alison Farrin <alison@hirschcompany.com>]

Lauren wrote:
I just don't know why the non-member fee can't be re-worded to say:
(example)
$80. entry fee for 50 mile ride
$65. entry fee for 25 mile ride

$10 DISCOUNT TO AERC MEMBERS
Sounds a lot better to discount than to add a fee. From the beginning I always thought that the AERC Board should have adopted the "positive" language instead of a "negative" connotation.
I'm not arguing for or against the fee, just pointing out a difference in wording that may help some ride managers.


Amen!  ....and so as not to make this a one liner, I'm one of those people in the $4000 truck and the $2000 trailer and the (finally) sort of newer camper ('cause the old one just sort of disintegrated where it was sitting one day), so I'm NOT rich.  But I have no problem with the additional fee.  There is no other horse related sport where for $80, I get a place to park my rig and camp for the night, breakfast, lunch and dinner on ride day AND an endurance ride.  We are not talking one class, we are talking four or five (okay ten for me ) hours of competition time, and food and sleeping space.  This is a giant bargain any way I look at it.  AERC is the backbone that allows these rides to happen.  If you don't support the backbone, pretty soon all you have is a mass of jelly.  It wasn't long ago that AERC was having major financial problems and I don't think any of us want to see them in that state again.  So give them the opportunity to put a little financial cushion under the structure!  I think they do an amazing amount for the small amount that we pay them.  If I were a non-AERC member, I would think it only right that I pay extra to play in their game.  They really do make it happen, in ways that we don't always consider on a day to day basis.  Extra publicity.....consistency of competition...sponsorships....just simply sharing information.  We grow when more people learn about our sport and the way to do that is to have a national organization structuring, maintaining and publicizing endurance!  If it wasn't for ridecamp, I honestly doubt that I would be doing endurance today.  We still don't let the non-endurance community know what is happening in the endurance community.  If it wasn't for the ride calendar, I still couldn't find a Southern California ride - because we don't publicize them anywhere.  I have digressed - but my main point is that telling other horsepeople about our rides, inviting them out to participate and then charging them an extra $10 to play in our pond is not a bad thing, in fact, I think it would be expected by those in other disciplines.  Go back to Kat's example of the "in hand" class.  They are paying per horse fees to half a dozen organizations, for which they receive negligible value.  Come to a ride and your $10 fee gets you AERC rules and regs - consistent ones, so you know what to expect when you go to a ride.  It gets you qualified veterinarians, and consistently marked trails, and consistent recovery and finish criteria.  It makes understanding the sport easier, as each ride is not wildly different, run according to the ride manager's whim.  There's a lot more to it than just the bright idea to charge non-members more, because they are non members.

Stepping down off soapbox
Alison Farrin
San Diego, CA