Last month in the Vice President's article, Laura Hayes gave some excellent educational sites and advice for the new endurance prospect.

The only advice I would add for the rider who wants firsthand experience is to check out the ride calendar to find a ride that you will be able to attend. Then give the ride manager a call to offer your help, letting the ride manager know that you would like a job that would be educational.

It is unbelievable how much the new endurance prospect can learn just by attending a ride and hanging out with the veterinarians, workers and riders. You will also be doing a great service for the ride manager and the riders.

We are all mentors

This article will be more focused towards the experienced endurance rider who has been in the sport for a while and what you can do to help bring in the new endurance rider and make them feel like they are part of the endurance family.

Endurance veterans should try to make themselves accessible to the new endurance rider who is needing our support. So often we get caught up in our own little group of riding friends that we overlook the new rider, making it seem as if we don't care about them.

When you see a new rider at an event, go up and introduce yourself make them aware that you are glad they are at the ride. Offer your help in any way they need it. Bring new riders into your group and introduce them to everyone. Help guide them through the vet checks and the ride, and try to remember how it was when you just started.

After the ride, seek out the new riders, asking them about the experiences they had on the ride. Find out where they live and, if possible, meet them on some training rides.

In mentoring the new endurance rider you will find the rewards to be a two-way street, not only benefiting the new rider but also yourself. Most new endurance riders are already experienced, knowledgeable horse persons, just not experienced in our sport.

They can often teach you something if you will listen. Some of their ideas and questions may make you re think about the way you do things and maybe even come up with better ways. (See page 8 for more on what experienced AERC members can learn from new riders.)

Newcomers' enthusiasm can inspire you to get out for a conditioning ride with them even if the weather is not the best. When you take them out to train on the same old trails that you have conditioned on for years, it will make them seem so much more fun showing them off to someone else. Seeing things through a new endurance rider's eyes will stir up some of the feelings you had when you first began endurance riding.

Importance of awards

Completing a ride is a special accomplishment that often has become "no big deal" to the longtime rider. Sometimes we do not even bother staying around for the awards ceremony any longer. But new riders will wait anxiously for the awards ceremony, wanting to hear how they have done.

The experienced riders need to stay around and cheer new riders on, and your horse could use the extra hour or two of rest before loading up in the trailer anyway. The new riders will wearing those ride completion award T-shirts the next ten times that you see them; it is something truly special to them.

We have forgotten how exciting it was the first time we saw our name in print in the ride results but for the new endurance rider it is such a thrill. Be sure to hang out with new endurance riders to catch their enthusiasm all over again.