Given that I am old enough to have ridden in competition each year since 1963, across all U.S. regions; 52,000 + recorded miles (endurance and competitive) -- including fourteen (14) 100 mile AERC rides in one year on one horse; ridden 7,210 AERC miles in one year of "madness competition" on more than several horses; ridden three AERC registered horses (two still living and sound), each over 10,000+ AERC miles (lots of 5 day-50 miles/day-XP multiday rides); and made all the usual mistakes of endurance riders; I have some considerations to share with my fellow riders. All of these considerations are stated with great humility on my part -- to say the very least.

I. DECISION MAKING:

Unlike many other official riding organizations with rigidly required rider styles of "competitive" type horseback riding, AERC is distinctive in welcoming an array of variations on the theme of endurance riding. A member of AERC can freely choose to be a "top ten" speed-oriented type rider with the objective of winning and/or scoring high on endurance rides, or choose to do the other extreme of going slowly and finishing a 50 mile ride in approximately 10 hours (as I often do at this stage of my trail life). A member of AERC has the freedom to ride a highly superior horse to win in international competition or choose to be a simple backyard rider with much less expense and anxiety, and without any pomp or circumstance in dress or behavior -- and riding an average horse.

Yes, the values of AERC provide an endurance rider the freedom to carry out AERC's motto "To Finish Is To Win" -- and do this in a range of equally acceptable, respected and recognized ways. But it is essential that as a matter of personal conscience, in fairness to oneself and one's horse, that the endurance rider consciously considers and decides his/her riding style and related to this decision, a decision as to the choice of one's type of horse to compete with.

At the very beginning of this process of decision-making, before even choosing a potential endurance horse to compete with, one must consciously and honestly (not to fool oneself) decide if they wish to be a top ten type rider (or even more realistically if they have the need and drive to most of the time place in the top one-third of competitors in an endurance ride) or, in contrast, they feel emotionally and physically comfortable to be a consistent "back of the pack" type rider -- placing in the last third of the pack of riders. They may choose different approaches at different life stages.

"To Finish Is To Win" is the AERC motto. For the endurance rider, there is yet another motto, namely, "Know Thyself". To come to the decision as to whether you wish to be a "top ten" or "middle of the pack rider" or "bottom ten" rider you must give thought to the following considerations:

a. Short or Long Term Horse -- It is Your Choice to Consider?

Do you wish to have your beloved or not so beloved horse be your endurance partner of just a few years (one-three years), or for an extended period of time (well beyond three years)? Why do I challenge you to ask this question of yourself? If you study AERC records over the last 20 years, it is quite evident that there are very very few top ten horses who are consistently top ten for more than two or three years at best.

After, a few years, a great majority of consistently top ten horses disappear from active endurance competition. Please do not construe this as my criticism of such riders and this particular style of "To Finish Is To Win". The overwhelming majority of top ten riders work extremely hard at keeping their horses sound (for example, wrapping legs before and after a ride; massage of their horses; cooling down and walking their horses after a ride; talking in a loving manner to their beloved horses.). But, the reality is that the faster (speed) one wishes to compete with their horse, even assuming ideal conditioning, feeding, and veterinary care programs, there is a definite positive correlation between the speed one elects to go in endurance and training rides and the potential and probability of your horse's breakdown -- both metabolically and/or physically (chronic lameness or back sensitivity for example). A horse is not a motorcycle machine; a horse is composed of mere flesh, bones, blood, and organs -- much like the human rider. Both rider and horse are born with their unique physical and mental limits, and can certainly compensate for these limits or exaggerate these limits as the result of their choices made along the trail.

b. So, The Choice is Yours!

As evidenced by several decades of AERC records, you must make a choice, namely, choose to consistently top ten and you should expect to have a sound horse for only a few years of competition. Elect to be a bottom ten or the lower half of middle positioned riders and you can expect to have your horse be sound enough to endure for more than two or three years. That is the reality of odds and probabilities and you must face this reality honestly and within yourself at a gut level! Again, to repeat, various styles of enduring, trying to be a winner, trying to be in the top ten or choosing to be somewhere in the middle or the back of the pack of horses are all legitimate expressions of the AERC motto "To Finish Is To win". No one approach can be labeled "bad or good"; it is a matter of your choice and the nature of the relationship you choose to experience both with yourself (your inner being and conscience) and your beloved or not so beloved horse.

c. Love/Hate Relationship: Rider/Horse

Also, interestingly enough, because a rider loves or hates his horse is no guarantee that the rider will properly ride and take care of their horse or do the opposite -- not properly ride and not take of their horse. Without my naming names, there have been and are some absolutely great top ten horses and rider partners, consistent winners -- for a few years, that somehow form a winning team with the rider hating his/her nasty behaving horse, and probably likewise, some wining horses absolutely detesting their winning rider's behavior. The latter team is characterized by the rider frequently cursing at their horse partner and there horse taking advantage of any opportunity to act out in a negative behavioral manner. There are even some marriages like that!

d. Realistically Dealing With Horse and Rider Limitations & Peculiarities

Recently I had the opportunity to partner with a rider who for a good part of 50 miles experienced considerable pain in her knees. Her best remedy for relieving the intense pain was to get off her horse and walk a mile or so. She is a highly experienced and a relatively longtime endurance rider (now around 60 years of age) with a relatively calm and well-yrained endurance horse (full Arab). She explained to me that riding slowly (averaging about five and a half to six miles/hour) was quite physically painful for her. She felt much less pain, if any, riding fast. However, she very much loved and cared for her horse and she was concerned about the horse drinking sufficient water. Her horse was not necessarily a top ten or particularly fast winning horse and its fitness was still to be proven. Yes, she did finish the 50 mile ride. Her horse looked wonderful and was well hydrated; in contrast, the rider was exhausted and still experiencing pain in her knees. She chose to not ride the next day and rest. In this case, the rider's physical condition was such that it was necessary for the rider to choose a superior horse or continue to suffer physically to an extreme. Obviously, for most folks (but not all) expanding the AERC motto to state, "To Suffer And To Finish -- Is To Win" is not very much fun! So, before making a decision as to what horse to ride, in fairness to yourself and the potential horse, it is necessary that you do an inventory of yourself -- psychologically and physically. Objectively consider what type of horse would best fit with you unique needs and characteristics? There is no right or wrong; it is a matter of your personal honesty with your own inner being and conscience.

There are a multitude of wonderfully calm and reliable endurance horses to choose from as your team partner. Endurance riding by its nature is a dangerous sport to pursue even with a calm rider riding a calm horse on a simple and uneventful endurance trail. It is interesting to note that in most endurance rides with over 50 riders (and sometimes in even rides with much smaller ride numbers), roughly 10-20% of the riders do not have control of their horses ("these riders hanging on for dear life" -- particularly at the beginning of the endurance ride").

Why take on a horse that is not a good fit for you or a horse that simply dislikes doing a 50 mile ride? Yes, there really are wonderfully conditioned and physically fit horses, as there are, similarly, physically fit human beings, who for one reason or another, have no desire to endure for 50 miles along endurance trails. Believe it or not, there are really are some horses and humans who do not experience feelings of fun enduring 50 miles in a driving rain and/or sleet, or 100 degree heat with high humidity, or going up and down steep mountains, or surviving miles and miles of deep sand and/or rocks. Obviously, it takes a certain kind of human personality, and horse personality to enjoy doing and finishing an average or not-so-average 50 or 100 mile endurance ride, much less multiday 250 mile ride adventures.

So both horse and rider must be psychologically desirous of actually "going the endurance distance". Also, why take on a horse that has dangerous habits that are difficult, if not impossible to get rid of, for example, bucking, biting, kicking other horses and riders, rearing up and possibly going over on its back with you hurt, and being unsteady and emotionally unpredictable on the rim of a mountain, 8,000 feet up? The universe is characterized by chaos and unpredictability, so why add to what is already the chaos and unpredictability inherent in the universe and an endurance ride, by consciously choosing to ride your "beloved horse" that is objectively described as a real risk case that can get you into some real trouble on the trail.

Also, endurance riders must avoid the emotional trap of getting a problem horse to begin with, understandably falling in love with their beloved horse, and being unable to break their beloved horse of bad and dangerous habits, and then being truly stuck with riding their beloved horse because they are so emotionally attached to their beloved horse. Unfortunately, these riders end up sometime spending years on the endurance trail involved in a complex love-hate relationship with their beloved but highly dangerous endurance horse creating rider anxiety and fear.

An endurance rider must cope with the reality that some horses are not born with the necessary physical structures and internal functions, and /or mental attitude to perform as an endurance horse -- no matter how much training and expense showered by the rider upon the horse. For example, a horse that has a long -- time history of not eating or drinking easily and sufficiently along the endurance trail is probably not likely to undergo a magical transformation in this respect. There are a countless number of available horses with endurance potential. Why waste one's time and energy, much less expose one's aging body to possible danger, on a horse that is a "lost cause" -- and also be guilty of pushing a horse to endure beyond its inborn limitations? A rider must learn to "let go" of such a fantasy and unrealistic expectations of their "beloved and cute horse" -- as well as unrealistic expectations of oneself.

II. Curbing Your Impulses

Controlling and curbing one's own impulses is the real challenge of being a longtime endurance rider who wishes to have the pleasure of competing with the same horse for more than one, two, or three years on the AERC endurance trail. One must guard against fooling oneself into believing that you have "Super-Horse", and overly stressing your beloved horse -- particularly when your horse performs better than anticipated.

Not managing oneself properly, emotionally and impulsively, results in an unmanaged horse that is more likely to break down physically and/or mentally. Both the horse and rider as a team must be capable of balanced self-management, and exercising patience and caution -- as the horse and rider team confront the uncertainties and challenges of the endurance trail.

III. The Correct Endurance Culture -- Horse/Rider Increased Safety and Pleasure

AERC's motto "To Finish Is To Win", can only result in greater horse and rider pleasure and safety if the motto somehow stimulates ride management to create a culture of endurance riding that somehow influences the endurance rider to practice self-discipline and impulse control during the entire AERC sanctioned endurance ride. Ride management simply numbering horses; having an increasing multiplicity of vets and vet checks at a ride; having cut-off times for ride management convenience and economics; having no dogs or requiring all dogs to be tied; adding rules and constraints -- are not likely to necessarily ensure a higher probability of greater rider and horse safety and pleasure. The growing popularity of XP five-day multiday rides, as well as other multiday rides that are conducted with a bare minimum of rules and regulations and much less rider and horse anxiety have established a track record of comparatively greater rider and horse safety and pleasure. There are lessons to be learned by ride managers from the dynamics and structures of the "endurance culture" created by the multiday ride managements, and especially the XP ride management.

IV. Your Final Endurance Ride

Well, I am now 70 years old, consistently having ridden first competitive rides from 1963-1978; and then endurance rides from 1978-currently. For the senior rider (and there are a fast growing number of AERC senior riders), there is the understandable concern of how many years can I continue to do endurance riding? AERC records indicate that are currently only a handful of endurance riders in their 80's actively riding sanctioned rides. I must ask myself as to when will I know it is time to quit doing this magnificent challenge -- or as some might judge, "this magnificent obsession."

Endurance riders are well known for their somewhat peculiar personality structure that drives them to endure the challenges of the trail. You will note that I did not quote some observers of endurance riders who have judged us to be a bit insane!

There are no easy answers or instant objective analysis to tell us when it is the exact time to cease and desist from doing our final 50 mile or lesser or greater mile endurance ride. Maybe the heavens will send me a message. Perhaps one day while on my horse and trotting along the endurance trail, I will look up at the sky and see little pink ribbons hanging from an unending row of clouds -- the final trail that must be taken! If so, so be it, but with my feelings of both deep regret and long-lived happiness. Like many other endurance riders who are unique individuals, my horse and I can end the endurance trail in line with a slight modification of Frank Sinatra's famous song, "We did it our way."