----- Original Message ----- 
  
  
  Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 11:06 
  PM
  Subject: RC: Re: Tevis
  
At 09:08 AM 5/24/00 -0600, Sandy wrote:
  There's a video of all the riders going over 
    Cougar rock...I can;t remember
what year it was made but it is very 
    enlightening....The front runners sail
over the rock like it was just a 
    bump in the trail...you can see a steady
decline in the ability of horse 
    and rider to negotiate the obstacle as it
gets further and further to the 
    back of the pack...until by the last 30
riders, or so, almost everybody 
    has trouble getting over it....
1994.  We showed that 
  video at the AERC booth at Scottsdale this past February.  I looked at it 
  easily hundreds of times!  Extremely valuable info - not because it's 
  Cougar Rock specifically but because it's an obstacle that presents a 
  challenge, and you can tell about the horse's shape from the challenge.  
  I'd love to see another video like that of any comparable 
  obstacle.
Years ago we worked as  vet secs at a NATRC ride - I 
  believe Bob Young was one vet & I forget the other.  But a log 
  obstacle was placed at the top of a long hard climb.  When we questioned 
  why this setup was done that way (seemed cruel & unusual punishment to me) 
  whichever of the two vets replied that he didn't care how the rider chose to 
  deal with the obstacle, but in fact he could tell everything about the horse's 
  condition by how the horse dealt  with it.  
Just so with the 
  Cougar Rock video.  I finally wrote down each horse's number & a 
  prediction of completion based on how they took the Rock.  I haven't 
  checked the results yet, but I will....  Lif
  
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