It's the type of attitude that competitors say typifies endurance riding-camaraderie, horsemanship, and the philosophy that "to finish is to win."

What wasn't typical was the prize that was up for grabs between the three riders. The Flesherton ride is part of the International Arabian Horse Association Sweepstakes series, and participating horses who are top finishers are eligible for prize money.

"[Helping us] was costing her money," Oliva said of Down, who eventually won the ride. "She knew doggone well both of us were going to try to beat her."

As the sport of endurance has expanded, the issue of prize money has become one of its growing pains. Former World Champion Valerie Kanavy became an inadvertent catalyst for the discussions earlier this year-Nutramax Laboratories, makers of Cosequin, approached Kanavy about sponsoring a 100-mile ride. The "Cosequin Challenge," as the ride was dubbed, offered a $5,000 top prize and smaller cash rewards for the remaining top 10 finishers.

The competition was slated for May 1997, but it ran up against fierce opposition from endurance purists. Eventually, the ride was postponed until September 1998 because of a date conflict with the Old Dominion (the Cosequin Challenge was scheduled for three weeks before and used some of the same trails), but its mere proposal has dragged the long-simmering controversy to the forefront of the endurance arena.

But if riders are already so willing to push themselves, and their horses, to the utmost, will large cash prizes tempt them to push things too far? Kanavy says a gold medal at the World Championships is worth much more to her than a cash prize. She also cites the IAHA Sweepstakes, for which riders have been safely racing for years now, and she says it proves that prize money hasn't changed riders' attitudes any. Others disagree.

"When you're taking horses to the limit, you have to be very, very careful what rewards you offer the people for doing it," said Matthew Mackay-Smith, a past president of the Old Dominion and of the American Endurance Ride Conference, a current member of the Old Dominion's board, and a member of the AERC's Hall Of Fame. "We don't need to invite people to try harder to get there first. They're already trying as hard as they can."

Mackay-Smith also worries that increasing the stakes will put undue pressure on the veterinarians. Vet checks are often all that stand between competitors and their reward. "The pressure on management when you get highly competitive people is murderous. We're going to get veterinarians bearing the weight of this," he said.

Teddy Lancaster, an endurance rider and international representative for the AERC, agrees, citing what she calls "DIMR-distanced-induced mental retardation."

"People make bad judgments in the heat of competition, and if you add prize money, it'll be worse," she said. "I don't care how good your veterinary controls are. I don't think it's sufficient to prevent problems from occurring."

Most of the veterinarians who work checkpoints on the rides are very helpful, Lancaster said, warning riders to take it easy when their horses' vital signs are borderline. But their advice often goes unheeded-riders have been in the saddle for hours, often since before daylight. They're hot and fatigued, and their decision-making capabilities aren't at their best. Add a couple thousand dollars into the mix, and it's a recipe for disaster, Lancaster said.

As an example, Lancaster cites the same Flesherton ride where Oliva was the benefactor of her competitor's generosity. Veterinarians told Oliva at the last vet check that her horse was borderline, said Lancaster, but Oliva still raced to the finish. She was first across the finish line, but was then disqualified because her horse didn't recover quickly enough.

"It's very hard to push your horse for 100 miles and get through all the vet checks, no matter what you're doing it for. The thing you have to do, no matter what, whether you're racing for a T-shirt or $10,000, is protect the horse," said Oliva, adding that she would have raced to the finish even if money hadn't been involved. "I goofed, and I paid for it. There were good, strict veterinary criteria."

"I feel that there's a potential for abuse of animals in any situation where humans and animals interact. The potential for abuse is greater when there's a monetary award," said Marcia Smith, a small animal veterinarian and endurance rider. "But I think that endurance racing has always been one of the safest competitive events, partially because of the veterinary controls that exist."

Smith has worked vet checks in the past, and she admits veterinarians do often bear the brunt of competitors' frustrations. "People get excited and anxious at endurance rides, and sometimes the vets aren't treated very well. But they're usually very calm, confident, self-assured, knowledgeable vets. It usually doesn't faze them at all," she said. "The majority of riders, when told their horse looks shaky, will pull them immediately."

Maggy Price, the U.S. Equestrian Team's vice president of endurance and the individual bronze medalist at the 1992 World Championships, thinks that prize money will make veterinary checks even more stringent. "For the first two or three years [when prize money is offered], the vets are going to be more strict because they don't want to be accused of letting people override," she said. "The vets are already really careful about the front-runners. They're watching us like hawks."

"If it's going to happen, I'd rather be in the driver's seat than be a passenger," said Kanavy. "The way to do it is to do it well and set examples."

Kanavy's idea was to make the first big-money ride in the United States a shining example and set a high standard for others to follow. Qualification requirements for the Cosequin Challenge mandated that horses have completed a minimum of 500 lifetime miles, including two one-day 100-mile rides. Foreign riders on borrowed horses are exempt from the restrictions, but unqualified horses re not eligible for a top-10 placing. Kanavy has also arranged for a steward, as is required by the AERC for rides with more than $1,000 in prize money, and top veterinarians. The ride will include 25-, 50- and 100-mile divisions over challenging trails in Fort Valley, Va.

The main goal of the Cosequin Challenge was give the sport some publicity and attract media attention. "It's terribly hard to get the mass media interested in our sport when you give away a T-shirt," Kanavy said. She pointed to the tremendous popularity of golf tournaments on television. "If you can make watching a little white ball go 'plunk' in the littlehole exciting, it's because when that ball goes 'plunk,' it's worth $30,000 to $200,000," she said.

Mackay-Smith also thinks that sponsorship would be excellent for the sport. But he also feels that a sponsor's dollar would be better served by reinforcing endurance riding's long-standing principles.

"What's the benefit to the sponsor but a brief flurry of news?" he asked, referring to high-publicity, high prize-money rides like the Cosequin Challenge. "If we're going to trumpet 'to finish is to win,' and we're the ultimate stewards of our horses, then we have to reward competition and stewardship. That's how the sponsor is going to get the best publicity.

"If a company were to underwrite the entry fees of all the finishers, they would clearly be behind the concept that to finish is to win. They could become publicly involved in doing research on these horses as they perform. That would get a big public 'attaboy,' " he said. "What does racing for first place accomplish in endurance?"

To some members of the sport, endurance is simply a square peg that won't fit into the customary round hole of sponsorship and media coverage. "It's not a spectator sport. We're not going to get a huge amount of people willing to sponsor endurance rides," said Price. "I just don't see that much money coming into this sport."

Price doesn't think endurance offers the public appeal that would make it attractive to mass media. At the Bayer/USET Festival of Champions in Gladstone, N.J. in June, the finish line for endurance was about half a mile from the rest of the competition arenas. But only about 50 spectators were interested enough in the finish to make the effort to watch, said Price. "People are just too damn lazy," she said.

"Endurance is growing fast enough as it is," said Lancaster. She worries that prize money will become a misguided publicity campaign, attracting riders who aren't educated enough about the sport and perhaps catching the eye of animal rights groups.

It could also unearth a slew of unexpected roadblocks-insurance problems for ride organizers who will no longer be covered if they offer prize money, possible problems with holding rides on public land, and professional endurance jockeys who make a living by riding for shares of a cash purse. Changes for the worse have happened in every other sport where prize money becomes commonplace, Lancaster said.

The biggest worry for opponents is that cash prizes for first place will diminish the satisfaction of those who are just riding to complete, thereby altering the very foundation of the sport. "We already have a culture of completion and concern. If you use [prize] money to enhance that, you get more of that," said Mackay-Smith. "You've gotta dance with what brung ya."

At first, Oliva was opposed to taking money for her riding efforts. "For years, I did not ride for Arabian sweepstakes money. Then I figured out that I had forfeited about $10,000 in cash. I said, 'Wait a minute, this is crazy!' " she said.

"When you're riding to win, you are risking a lot more. We are taking more chances and we're trying harder. How does [rewarding that] detract from people who just want to ride to complete? They have to find their own satisfaction," said Oliva. "If you're not proud of what you did, nobody's going to make you prouder by giving you stuff."

Kanavy thinks endurance riders are just eager to keep a good thing to themselves. "There's a fear of competition. If this becomes too attractive a sport, there will be more fish in a bigger pond-fish who can afford to do more training. [People wonder] 'Where will this go and where will it leave me?' " she said.

When those at the pinnacle of the sport push the envelope, the less competitive riders also benefit, Kanavy maintained. There were very few 100-mile rides in the U.S.10 years ago, but when the Race Of Champions came along and required five major endurance events to qualify, the number of 100-milers grew exponentially.

"Today we have considerably more [100-mile rides] so people have an opportunity to qualify," Kanavy said. "And now the little guy doesn't have to compete so often with the big guy."

Occasional prize money also offers competitors the chance to cover their expenses. Kanavy's daughter, Danielle, and her friend Wendy Mattingly both have careers outside of endurance. "They say, 'Hey, we don't expect to make a living. But if we could win back our entry it would help justify going,' " Kanavy said.

The sport is already changing, she stresses. Endurance is now a fixture of the World Equestrian Games. Veterinary research on endurance horses has made great strides in helping riders in every sport understand how their mounts function during competition.

"Every sport gets better because people try harder. Prize money isn't going to make me try any harder than I am right now. I'm going to ride the very best I can ride because I want my name on that Tevis trophy. I don't care if there's $10,000," said Price, who has finished in the top 10 of the Tevis Cup four times. "Are we that bad that we're going to let a few bucks ruin us?"