Re: Limited distance

[jmutchler@juno.com (Jan A Mutchler)]

Allyn, I am a limited distance rider and agree with much you have said. 
I have done one 25 miler, and for a person with a bad spine who thought
she would never get to ride again, it was an "endurance" for me and a
wonderful thrill!  I plan on doing more LD's and am proud to be a part of
the LD program.  There is a place for us and I am very appreciative that
Ride Managers include rides for people like me.  I do hope to eventually
progress to 50 milers; we'll see what happens.  I do agree that
vocabulary is a problem.  When I strike up a casual conversation with
someone and they ask me what kind of riding I do, I usually say
"endurance riding".  If I said "limited distance rider", many people
would not have a clue what I was talking about because they are not
familiar with the term.  If the conversation is such that I have the
opportunity to go on to explain that I do limited distance riding, then I
do so, but that is not always the case.  I am sure there are better ways
of handling the above situation, but I am not sure how.  If any
Ridecampers would like to give me ideas on how to handle the vocabulary
problem, I would be glad to hear their thoughts.  The AERC defines an
endurance ride as being 50 miles or more and under 50 miles is limited
distance.  That makes me a limited distance rider, and that is just fine
by me. 

As for the all-out race problem.  I don't know what can be done about it.
 You have that problem at other distances as well.  Maybe it is more
prevalent in the 25 milers, I don't know.  Placement doesn't mean a whole
lot to me.  I had a very competitive horse show career and eventually
switched to dressage.  Why?  Because I had the feeling of competing
against myself and not everyone else.  I would get my little score card
after each competition and use them for comparisons and as a tool for
improvement.  I have the same feeling about this discipline of riding.  I
don't have to be the first one across the line.  I just set my own little
individual goals and work with those.  If I complete a goal, I've won,
even if I came in last.

My big Anlo-Arab, Willow, is my buddy and my protector on the trail.  She
takes care of me, I take care of her and we both do the best we can and
have fun doing it.  What more can you ask for? 

Jan Mutchler and Willow
Colorado
jmutchler@juno.com


On Sun, 7 Jun 1998 08:40:00 -0800 Dan Babitch <dan_b@sindar.com> writes:
>Hi everyone,
>
>Vocabulary often gets us into trouble.  I have a friend who is in 
>training
>for endurance, but has not yet completed a 50 miler.  I call her a
>"distance rider".  This distinguishes her from the riders who ride in 
>the ring much of the time, with the occasional hour-long foray out on
the
>trail- but she is not an "endurance rider"- not yet.

>I think there is great cause for concern if the 25 milers turn into an 
>all
>out race, though, to the detriment of the horses.
>Allyn Brewer-Babitch
>San Jose, CA
>allyn@sindar.com
>
>
>

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