Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Vet Checks

> I agree with most of you about the vet checks.  Yes, Heidi, it is calmer
>  at the start of a 100 so there isn't nearly as much of a "stampede",
>  but I still think 36 miles is a heck of a long way without a break
> . However, I've never heard anything but rave reviews for Swanton
>  Pacific so I can't comment on that ride, but if you have trouble at the
14 mile mark I wonder how soon they get the news? They apparently have
>  conditions where this may work. Yes, a technical trail does help to
>  separate the horses up.  When other riders get out of sight on a
>  twisting turning trail it's not so bad as when horses can see a mile
>  ahead on a dirt road.

Darkness has the same effect.  There again, this goes to course design.  The
main thing in the beginning of a ride, as you say, is to separate the horses
so that an inexperienced rider on a horse who is perhaps prepared for an
18-hour completion isn't sucked in at the start with that sub-10 horse.
Again, that level of inexperience is less common on 100's, so the problem is
much more a concern on designing a course for a 50, and the course
designer's expertise comes into play when that person can recognize that
there ARE conditions that exist (techincality, darkness, whatever) that will
help horses to fit into their own pacing groups.  If there are not, then one
designs a course with a somewhat shorter first loop.

The 100's are somewhat akin to the multidays in terms of pace and savvy--and
it is common there to have only one vet check per day, so that horses
routinely start off with a leg of 25 miles or so.  This is rarely a problem
on multidays, either, although it would likely be a disaster on one-day
50's.

> I don't think of a vet check *that* much as a place for a vet to tell
>  *me* there's something wrong with my horse, so much as it's a place for
>  me to take care of my horse.  Yes, there's some grass on the trail, but
>  a vet check is where I can really make changes.

Again, though, if you are starting out with a horse that has had proper and
ample opportunity to chow down prior to the ride, it isn't the early part
where refueling is an issue--the need becomes increasingly great as the ride
progresses.  By 25 miles, give or take a few, he is probably ready to relax
and chow down again--whereas he is far less apt to earlier.  (And in most
cases, any checks on 100's that are earlier than that are shorties, so you
aren't really getting much take-care-of-your-horse time in any event.)  And
as far as making changes--I'm not sure if you mean tack or what here, but
again, if you are prepared for a 100, you should have sufficient experience
and planning ability by that point in your career to be able to go 25 or 30
miles, at least, without significant need for change.  JMHO.

> When I say I want to
>  split the horses up, I don't mean there are *riders* who are being
>  stupid and trying to run too hard...it's usually the HORSES who are
>  hooking up with others they don't need to travel with.

I agree.  But again, see my comments on course design.  Long first loops are
not appropriate on all--just on some.

>The sooner I
>  hit that first pulse check, the sooner my arms are going to get a rest.
>   Instead of traveling with a pack of 15 I'll probably leave with one or
>  two horses. Besides that, by 15 or 20 miles I'm ready for a trip to the
>  bathroom and a sandwich.

As middle age progresses, I can agree about the pee stop (as opposed to the
P stop).  <g>  However, the arm-pullers I've ridden will still mellow out
within 10 miles or less, even if there isn't a check there to interrupt the
momentum.  Especially at a 100-mile pace vs a 50-mile pace.  If they've done
both, they quickly get the message that it's gonna be a long day, and back
off.

> I've never known anyone who said, "I love the first loop". Instead they
> usually say, "I hope I survive the first loop".  Why extend the misery?
>   I  live through the first loop, then I enjoy the rest.

Well, I'll break your streak here.  I "survive" starts.  But once we've
gotten out the first mile or two, the bugs are usually worked out, the
horses are usually sorted out, and I've enjoyed a great many first loops.  I
am not by nature a morning person, and the first loops are the ones that
have the glories of mountain or desert sunrises, the doe with fawns drinking
at the stream with the morning mist still rising off of it, etc.--all of
those glorious things that one can only see as the day comes sneaking in.
Nope, first loops are fabulous, second only to those final loops in the
moonlight or starlight, where one gets into a little bubble in time with
one's horse and savors the cool coming on.  The loops that I "survive" are
the mid-afternoon loops in the heat and the dust, with the sun boring down,
and one's tongue sticking in one's throat, no matter how much effort one
made to stay hydrated and how many water bottles one carries.  Tell you
what, Angie--I'll ride your first loops for you if you'll come spell me
during the parched afternoons!

> As a ride manager, I try to set up a ride in a manner which *I* would
> want to compete.  It's just a fact of life. Horses like to go fast at
>  the start of a ride.  The sooner the packs are broken up, the sooner
>  those horses will settle down to business and start drinking, etc. like
>  they should.  I'm just trying to give the riders a break.

I agree that I also try to design courses that I would want to ride.  I've
just never found that the packs don't break up on their own on the 100's.
Even when we put on the Pan-Am in Bend, we found that the trail was already
separating the horses into groups by VC1, which was at 19 miles.  We did
have several factors that helped this--including darkness, timber, and
multiple turns and curves in the course, even though the degree of
technicality was not high at the start.  (That can be a problem in the dark,
too!)

Heidi


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