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As a ride manager, I've been astonished at
all
the ways people can find to miss turn
markers.
But as a technical writer, I've also had
to
learn that you must deal with people's
comprehension
as it is, and not as you would wish it
to
be.
There was one critical turn that many
people
kept missing. Make the turn, and
you're
headed back to camp. Miss the turn and
you're
on your way to the Atlantic Ocean. I
went
out and looked at it. "Maybe it was
unmarked,"
I thought. No, there were *three* markers at
the turn. So why were people missing it?
It wasn't until I rode my horse down
that
trail that I discovered what was wrong.
As
you approach the turn about 100 yards
out,
several trees blocked the riders'
line-of-sight
to the turn markers. The turn markers
didn't
become visible until about 10 yards from the
turn.
By that time, they had already mentally
decided
"no turn here." This was subconsciously
reinforced
by the fact that
they had gone straight through
the previous *three* intersections.
Angie's idea to mark *wrong* turns is an
excellent
one. More work for the ride manager, but
it
beats sending out the hunting parties
to
look for lost riders, plus saving frustration
and
bad will in one's riders.
I just bought me a Leki telescoping hiking
stick
with a hook handle. I'll be able to reach
up
on horseback to hook higher branches to
attach
the marking flags. You need to reach a
happy
medium--too low and they get pulled down
and
are below the riders' line-of-sight. Too
high,
and they take too long to pull down, plus
they
are *above* the rider's
line-of-sight.
My personal opinion is that pie plates
with
arrows on them are best, but they take a
*lot*
longer to put up and take down. Clothes
pin
flags can be fun to take down--kind of
like
a gymkhana: can you get the flag on
the
fly? Best to unmark in tandem: if you
miss
it, the guy behind you gets their
chance.
Linda B. Merims
Massachusetts, USA
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