Re: Re: Various thoughts/recent posts

["Michelle Rowe" <michrowe@frontier.net>]

I think the problem is that some people work really really hard to be an
endurance rider and they go ride a 25 and they consider themselves an
Endurance Rider.  Some people spend a lot more time and effort working at
the 100's level for years and they, too, consider themselves to be an
Endurance Rider.  Everyone wants to be recognized for their accomplishment,
however big or small it is.  Unfortunately, we only have one term for these
accomplishments:  Endurance Rider.  There is an unfortunate implied insult
in grouping everyone's accomplishments under the same umbrella of Endurance
Rider.

With runners, if you run a mile a day and put your heart into it, you ARE a
runner.  You are not a marathoner.  You are not a sprinter.  You are not an
ultra-marathoner.  But you get recognized and you get to be part of the
'club' with the other "Runners".  You even get the same T-Shirt as the
famous runners at the races, and they might even ask how long you've been a
"Runner".  Wow!  Point is, they have a heirarchy, and Endurance Riders do
not.

People, we need a heirarchy to recognize these differing levels of
accomplishment.  Until we have a standard that everyone knows and respects,
it's gonna be a silly catfight.  I tried telling people who ask what I do
with my horse that I ride CTR.  They don't have a clue what I am talking
about.  It's so much easier to say I ride endurance because they grok what I
am saying and I don't have to go into a long and windy explanation.

And don't suggest a heirarchy like:
Grunt = CTR rider
Poser = 25 milers
Newby = 50 milers
Endurance Riders = 100 milers

Cause it ain't gonna work (above suggestion was just a joke, people).  But
can't we borrow something from the running world and maybe introduce the
concept of levels, and let everyone who rides endurance be recognized and
patted on the back for the level of their accomplishment?

Back to Utopia for me.

m (think I'll just call myself an equestrian from now on and call my sport
"riding")
(aka michelle rowe)
colorado
http://www.redwrench.com


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