RC:25mileride

[Deanna German <dgerman@earthlink.net>]

In a message dated 07/04/2000 10:03:11 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
mberger65@hotmail.com writes:

>At our Limited Distance ride of 30 miles, we do not mention rider time
at
>all. .....As for placing related to horses' condition, we don't do that
because it is too time
>consuming to calculate condition for 40+ horses.  Neither do we give a
BC
>award, for the same reason.

How about  "high vet score" instead of BC?

Any of you who have read my posts know how I feel about the LD vs.
endurance debate. I agree with the definitions as put forth by AERC. 50+
miles is endurance and nothing else is.

Let's look at the reasons LD exists:
    training ride (bringing new horse along, horse recovering from
injury etc.)
    rider restricted to shorter distances
and here's a reason that's being ignored:
    encourage new riders in a controlled environment

In a couple of weeks I hope to do a 20 mile novice CTR on my horse. Her
first ride. I expect that the ride time will be somewhere around 3 1/2
to 4 hours. (Mickie? Help me out here.) Not exactly the same as the top
times at an LD, but no 6 hour stroll either. (BTW, a rider CAN take as
long as needed to complete the distance for a completion only.)

By definition CTRs award based on condition. (At least ours are based on
condition — no hiding in the bushes judging of obstacles.) There will be
awards for 1 -10, then top 20, plus breed awards. That's just for the
novice 20 mile ride. Now, I realize that CTR tends to hand out more
awards in general than other distance formats, but there's no doubt in
my mind that the awards are a big part of what brings people out to
participate. I expect to see about 30 - 40 other novice horses there
plus the 2-day 50 milers.

As a rider bringing along what I hope to be an endurance horse, I am
very grateful to have a format where I can see how my horse's condition
compares to the others. For those of us who haven't done distance riding
for very long, a small "congratulations on how you took care of your
horse" goes a long way. Likewise, knowing areas where improvement is
needed goes a long way too. In other parts of the country, LD is the
only shorter distance format where there's no obstacle or horsemanship
judging.

I'm also grateful that LD RM's in this area hand out a few awards too —
apparently a few more awards than are available elsewhere.

So how about rethinking that "too time consuming" thing just a little.
Surely there's a compromise so that LD riders get a little more out of
it than just doing the mileage and having a vet look over the horse.

Deanna (Ohio)
Yes, Mickie, if the weather holds, I'm taking Salina!