By the time you read this, it should be June, the weather should be great for riding, and you should be conditioning your endurance horse instead of reading this. AERC is all about riding, not about rules and regulations.

I want every member of AERC to be informed of all the rule changes being proposed--if they want to be. If you would rather not know what is going on, that is perfectly fine. The actions of the board of directors should not be your main concern. Riding should be.

The AERC board of directors was elected to represent the members. The board should be acting with each member's best interests at heart so no member needs to spend hours worrying about every item the board deliberates. But if anyone so desires, AERC needs to make available the information about every issue and every pending action.

AERC is evolving as the sport of endurance is evolving. While I cannot stop this evolution, I can remember the "good ol' days" and try to keep sacred the core values of the founders of modern endurance. Endurance riders want to be able to go compete at an endurance ride with minimal paperwork, extremely low entry fees, a well-marked course, minimal interference from management and vets, and scores of our best friends riding with us and then sitting around the campfire after the ride telling tall tales. That is what I remember of my first few endurance rides and that is why I chose endurance as "my sport." Twenty-nine years later, I still go to endurance rides which are the same as long ago, at least in the most important points.

The board is struggling with how to keep endurance the same as we all want to remember it, and at the same time have it grow and flourish. There are many issues in front of the board right now, not the least of which is the long-term direction for AERC. I think we all want AERC to retain the best attributes of the past while embracing the best attributes of the future. Now we just have to all agree what those are and then we can all get back to riding. Go ride!