Re: National Championship

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-05-29 11:49:59 EDT, ccrespo@nigma.com writes:

<< Personally, I can not subscribe to this notion. To begin with, I believe
 that the best  way to crown a National Champion
 is to have ONE National Championship Ride. This will allow the Best Riders
 in the Country to plan and Peak their 
 conditioning to test themselves on the same day, under the same conditions
 with the BEST,  and see who wins.
 The way the system works now it is more a question of who can drive more
 miles and take more time off work.  >>

This concept totally defeats the true beauty of this sport, which is that if
you are running for the top, you always have to run again at another ride,
hence you have a major incentive to keep your horse sound and healthy.  There
is already a major contest that pits the very top riders in an all-the-eggs-
in-one-basket competition--it is called international endurance riding, and is
run by the FEI.  It is a beautiful challenge, too, but I have always
appreciated the fact that AERC was DIFFERENT and provided a different type of
competition.  True endurance, to many of us, is still the concept of having to
keep a horse sound for a whole season, and I, for one, still would like to see
a champion crowned every year who has succeeded at that daunting task.  Here
in the NW, I find that most riders are more concerned about their PNER
standings, where they still accumulate points for the whole season, than they
are with what AERC has to offer.  Sad commentary on AERC's system, in my
opinion...

Heidi Smith, DVM--Sagehill Arabians (Oregon)