FEI stuff, selection procedures - placement vs time

["Steph Teeter" <steph@endurance.net>]

A few riders recently came up with selection proposals for the 
2001 PAC which use an objective scoring system. (you can
see these at http://www.usa-east.org ). Several of the
zones intend to use systems such as Teddy/Truman's 
and Roger's.  Both of these are based on scores determined
by placement - relative to other nominated riders. TNT's
also factors in a post-ride veterinary score.

Now I've been looking at these, and thinking about them.
There is a strong desire by many to create an objective
selection process - and these proposals certainly do that.
But the issue that I have with both of these systems is
that they are based on relative *placement*. In FEI World
and PanAmerican Championships, there are individual medals 
(1,2,3) and team medals (1,2,3). The team scores are determined
by *time*. It makes no difference what the relative placement
of the team members was, only what their relative ride time was.

So .... to me, placement is not necessarily the best indication
of a horse/rider team's potential merit in an FEI team event. 
And when considered over different courses throughout the
demonstration period, could be very misleading.
Scenario 1: A rider finishes finishes 5th in Ride A , but is 2 hours 
off of the 1st place finisher's time.
Scenario 2: A rider finishes 10th in Ride B, but was only 30 minutes
 off the 1st place finisher's time. 
In the above points based systems, the rider in Scenario 1 will
have a much higher score, but in an actual FEI championship the
rider's performance in Scenario 2 would have been more valuable.

Solution? I don't know, but I think ride time should be factored
into any points based system, not just placement. Truman, Teddy,
Roger - you guys must have thought about this too? What made
you discard ride time as a factor in earning points?

Steph

(my apologies to those of you out there who could care less! I'll
be done with this topic soon :)