The relationship between endurance riding and the Internet may not seem obvious at first. It certainly wasnÕt back in 1995 when Steph Teeter, Russ Humphrey, and I started providing endurance and AERC information online. We first met by e-mail and didnÕt meet face to face until several years later. Even though we hadnÕt met, we were still able to originate services that are used today by many endurance riders around the world -- thanks to the magic of the Internet.

The original concept was to provide an online meeting place to exchange endurance information and to serve as a reference. Ridecamp, the online forum, was supplemented by the endurance riders handbook, a list of directors, and a ride calendar. At that time, about 10% of the membership was online. The online ride calendar supplemented Endurance News by adding an overview, ride description, and directions.

Today more than 65% of AERC members are online and there are about 1,500,000 page accesses to the AERC online services yearly from endurance riders all over the world. Endurance.net has grown to include information for new riders, classified ads, breeders, vendors, endurance associations around the world, events, international endurance news, references, and travel.net, a guide to places to stay with your horse. Today, Endurance.net, supported by Steph and John Teeter, is oriented toward a broader audience than just AERC. It can be found at http://www.endurance.net.

The AERC online services now include horse and rider history back to 1984, lifetime mileage, point standings updated every two weeks directly from the office database, annual statistics by distance/region/year, ride results, a ride calendar with links to entries/flyers/web pages, a display of your horseÕs pedigree if itÕs AHRA listed, and a personal member web page to access/change AERC information on you and your horses.

There's also a ride manager's page where all the forms needed can be downloaded, the AERC ride managers handbook and rules are available, ride sanctioning can be done online, and a list of paid members by region can be downloaded to take to rides to check on day member charges.

The home page for AERC is located at http://www.aerc.org and contains links to all of the above services. In addition, committees, directors, membership renewal, the vet handbook, our drug policy, awards descriptions, trails, AERC International, and the office contact information are all available. The office e-mail contact information is aerc@foothill.net and is a quick, easy way to contact the office.

Future services may include an online version of Endurance News (available to members only) and searchable archives of past Endurance News articles. If you have suggestions for online services, please send them to me at mmaul@flash.net. And if you have any problems using the services, please contact me at the same address.

Endurance and the Internet are indeed connected. ItÕs a great way for our members across the country to communicate and share ideas, to distribute educational materials and allow members access to important record-keeping and statistical data. Try it -- you will like it!