Participants in many equestrian disciplines consider endurance riding an extreme sport at best. At worst, they may think we're crazy. My farrier has Quarter horses and his comment on my 12-mile conditioning rides was, "My horse would die if we rode 12 miles!" When I first came to Texas, I tried joining some of the local trail riding groups and was told my "wimpy" Arabians wouldn't fit in. Often the view by participants in other disciplines is that we "abuse" horses by forcing them to go the number of miles we ride in normal competition.

Many times, people who don't understand endurance think that if an equine is not suitable for any other discipline but always "wants to go" -- that makes him an ideal candidate for endurance. This is independent of manners, training, mind, and other qualities they feel necessary in their sport. They are under the impression that a horse doesn't need training to succeed in our sport -- just that desire to "go." Another misconception is that an endurance rider needs no other skills than a "calloused" posterior and the ability to stay on the wild horse she or he is riding.

Certainly endurance is portrayed in a positive way in most articles we see in Equus, USEF Equestrian, and other equestrian magazines, but there's still a long way to go in making more of the equestrian community aware of our sport and all the equine research conducted during competition that has helped us improve our conditioning and competition strategies. For example, a current website for a planned trail ride suggests ride etiquette such as, "After he is cooled out, give him small amounts of water until he is satisfied." Whether this is good practice for very "out of shape" horses or not, it certainly would not work in our sport.

AERC has had a growth rate of about three to four percent per year for the past five years. If we believe growth helps our organization -- and I do -- changing some of the preconceptions about endurance among participants of other disciplines can help attract riders from those disciplines to our sport. Making our sport more familiar to non-riders can also garner more support for our trail use and trail conservation.

Some of the things I've done include giving presentations at local riding clubs on endurance; stopping to talk with other riders on the trail about what I'm doing when out conditioning; stopping to talk with bikers/hikers; and "baby-kissing," or stopping to allow families with children the opportunity to pet my horse. Often other riders will already have a clue about what you are doing -- I've had riders note the breast collar, the seat cover, the sponge or scoop, or even my helmet, and say, "You must do endurance." Here in Texas, the tights are also a dead giveaway.

A number of you may already be doing things like this to promote our sport and support trail use. If you are not, I believe it would help our sport if you'd start. I’d also be interested in hearing from members who have additional strategies they personally use to make others aware that endurance riding is not as much of an "extreme" sport as is commonly thought and that our equines are highly trained athletes—not simply horses that are unsuitable for anything else.