Australian System

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

>   I am an endurance rider from Australia.    Riders must do 2 x 40km
rides and then > succesfully complete 240 km before they are a qualified
endurance > rider, they are not to enter a ride more than 120kms in one
day.  

O.K. help me with my conversions... I *think* an 80 km is a 50, so they
have to do 2 25's first....then to get their 240 km they can't go over
120 km...75 miles?  So, you do 2 25's and 2 50's, or 3 25's and a 75 and
you get your qualifications in?

> They either have to do the ride with a minimum riding time 
> (14km/hr), or ride behind a pace rider. 

You *are* making this difficult. >g<   Quick attempt at guesswork type
math... divided 80km by 14 (with no calculator handy) and got 5.7 hours
to do a 50 miler?  Heck, I rode 4 years before I did one that fast!

>   A novice horse must also successfully complete 240km during no > less
than ninety days and be entered in no more that 4 rides over > this time.


O.K. I'm trying to get this straight in my head, had to re-read.  Now
we're talking horse, earlier was for rider. (this is complicated) I
understand some limits of frequency of competition, but it would be a
pain to some who like to start an older horse they've bought from a
steady trail rider type and they like to do long slow rides right off the
bat.  But, aside from that, this translates the horses have to do 240 km
in no more than 4 rides.  That means 240 divided by 4 = 60 km avg. and I
doubt you let them go over 80 since that's what you're protecting
against, so that's 2 25 milers and 2 50 milers  40+40+80+80=240km right?
So, you could do 2 25's the first month, then a 50 each of the next 2
months.  Sounds reasonable.  We seldom have 75 milers here (120 kms) but
since you mentioned them earlier, are those allowed in this equation?


They also have a minimum ride time or have to follow pace 
> rider.

If you didn't just use the minimum time, wouldn't you have to have a pace
rider in every ride with this system?  Well gals, there's your mentor!
>g<


>>If a qualified endurance horse has more that 13 months between >
completing a ride they become novice until they complete 1 > successful
ride

So, coming off a layoff, they have to have one slow(er) ride?  Would your
points/miles count the same or do you have different point divisions for
novice and open?

>   Our horses have their own logbook which we must have at every ride >
otherwise we can't ride, this enables the vet to check the horses >
history.

Hey, sounds like a great place for people to keep up with that AERC card
they hate to carry around.  Just put your coggins in it too folks and you
won't blame anyone but yourself if you show up without it.  I don't mind
this idea.  Have your riders ever felt though that the vets were more
likely to think they saw something if some big name vet claimed they saw
it?  I think I've seen this phenomenon at big rides.  Nobody wants to be
the only one who can't see anything wrong with the horse. >g<

>   This system works really well and helps riders learn how to pace >
their horses.>   We also have an Early Warning System and Rest Orders.

I can imagine how the rest orders work.  What's the Early Warning System?

Angie 
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