The name change was purely a Regional Sanctioning change, however,
Special Qualification requires under AERC Rule 11.2 that the ride have
approval of the AERC Board for sanctioning for the first two years.
Ironically, as I interpret the AERC Rules, the amount of money given as
an award is already covered by AERC Rule 11.8 that requires a ride that
has any single cash prize in excess of $1,000.00 to have a steward,
appointed by the AERC Executive Committee, with the steward's expenses
paid by the ride. So, the Special Qualifications are the item to be
approved by the Board, not the money and/or the amount of the money
awarded. I do believe this will be an item at the Board Meeting in Reno
and not a "mail vote"
This is not to say that AERC and the Board should not take a strong look
at what the consequences of large money prizes will do to this sport. I
still believe in, and will continue to strongly support, the idea AERC is
a pure and simple amateur sport, clean of drugs (I do not support that
Cosequin, Adequan, etc. are drugs), competitive but with great
comraderie, a team sport with the rider and horse being the team, and I
still believe that "to finish is to win" and that the trail is your real
competition.
Although I don't know Pete Fields very well, I have spent some time
visiting with him in the past and I consider him a friend, but I think
what we see in Pete's letter is a continuation of the International
philosophy. The FEI and International have the standards in place to
allow for the Large Cash Prizes rides. They already have in place their
"strict interpretation Vets, the Chefs d' Equipe (sic), the "tough rules
with strict enforcement", and a long and short list to qualify to even be
an entry into the ride; as well as the "professional riders" who would
make up this list. As I stated in an earlier letter, perhaps these folks
should be the ones to put this on. At least then it would truly be, as
the International set likes to say, "riding at a whole new level of your
sport"