An idea

[Marinera@aol.com]

Joe,  I have read with interest your well thought out  responses to some
issues appearing on ridecamp. Why don't you put together a post which
illustrates how much we have changed and how far we have come?  I feel that
the newbies think the oldies are adverse to any change and that is really not
true.
You have a good memory and  have been active in the AERC organization for a
long time. I am sure  you can come up with many items, rules changes, etc. to
show that we're not stuck in the mud, but welcoming new ideas and constantly
changing our rules to reflect the natural progression of the sport. Vet gates
would be one example from the old one hour holds.  The addition of Limited
Distance Rides would be another. Another one might be "fit to continue" rather
than cross the finish line and you have your award regardless of your horse's
condition.
I feel  the newcomers are full of fresh ideas.  Some of them we hashed over
twenty  or thirty years ago to come up with some present rule, but some of
them  are  new ideas and they should not be ignored. We cannot stifle new
ideas or we will stagnate, but many newcomers do not realize how very much we
have changed and I hope you can point this out. Sometime it is a tight rope
act between relaxing rules and upholding standards.
For years I have urged people to attend the Thursday night and Sunday morning
Board meetings at the Convention each year.  They are a tremendous eye opener,
but always poorly attended which is a shame. I would like to see every
newcomer to our sport witness how much consideration and soul searching each
member of the Board goes through before making a decision.  And I would like
to have our newer members feel free and comfortable to add their input.  It
can only make us stronger.
Please, with your knowledge of the sport, write something in the form of a
comparison between then and now—the five or six original basic rules written
on a half a page to the 30 page rule book we now have.  The tone I sense of
late of oldies versus newbies is completely divisive.  I ask your help in
getting us all on the same wave length by chronicling a bit of our past.  A
healthy exchange of ideas, though maybe poles apart,  should be  welcomed with
respect.   Julie Suhr