Fees for LD

["Tamara Putman" <nis75p06@mindspring.com>]

I have been listening to all of the noise about the ride fees and I have
noticed some saying it won't affect the number of riders and some saying it
will.  I am very new to this sport, in fact my very first LD will be the
Cleburne Clop in January.  I have competed my horse in all kinds of events,
lastly being rodeos.  Now if you want to start talking fees, listen to this.
My horse used to run barrels, poles, goat ties, and break-away roping.
That's four events at $20 an event with two rodeos a month and this is
member pricing.  A 10 dollar fee is not going to keep me from testing out
endurance.  Now, I would not want to join AERC just to test out the sport,
but I would most assuredly expect to pay a non-member to the sanctioning
body, same as I would for a rodeo or horse show.  Non-members in other
equestrian sports do not expect to win year-end awards or anything like
that.  They also don't expect points/earnings/etc to be tracked.  This is a
privilege reserved for members.  As I believe some have already mentioned,
it is just 10 dollars, not 100.  What's the problem?


-Tamara
(& Wildfire, who is wondering why his mom keeps pulling out that stethoscope
thing all the time)