PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED DIVISION

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From: FRANK SOLANO 
Email: DVERITAS@AOL.com

My wife is a horseman.  A "horseman" who has MS.  My wife "quit" the Big Horn 50 at 39 miles.  She had a horse "fit to continue", but she couldn't "continue" and meet time constraints.  Reluctantly, she was removed from her horse, who didn't know the difference between thirty-nine miles and fifty miles, his rider was just done at that point and it was time for food and water and some rest.. 
    We have always wanted the subject division.
    At the beginning of the year, with proper medical documentation submitted to the AERC, one should be able to be designated PC and allowed to enter sanctioned rides with the understanding that riders so designated will ONLY GET CREDIT FOR MILES RIDDEN, nothing more.
    But you know what, for many of us, the miles ridden are the reward.
    IT'S NOT HOW MANY MILES YOU RODE THAT MATTER, IT HOW YOU RODE THE MANY MILES.
    For those of you out there that are "competitive" (for want of a better word), by all means, COMPETE...that's why they call it an endurance RACE.  
    But "endurance", as we all know, isn't a word that just applies to the horse.  For many folks, it aptly describes the act of "just" riding a horse fifty miles or one hundred miles.  
    We've tried CTR's, we've done showing, but the AERC provides the venue we prefer.  A well-regulated, orderly manner for groups of riders (and in the case of many of us) "friends" to head out in the dark and ride some trail.
    We all sign "Releases of Liability" now.  Why not "include" just one more group...
    I had always thought that endurance was about "inclusion", not "exclusion".
    To quote a heavy thinker of the modern age, "that's just my opinion, I could be wrong".
Frank Solano