"2) Make the maximum distance a horse can travel between vet checks
15 miles. No longer. And, actually, make sure via an independent
source that the miles listed by the ride manager between loops is
accurate."
Not
practical as my previous post said. Desirable, but not
practical. Independent verification of loop length is a good idea, but
I do not see a way to do it without adding a bunch to the already
overloaded ride manager.
3) Have a prerequisite for entering 100 mile rides. I suggest
300 miles of 50's before a horse is allowed to do it's first 100 miler.
Wouldn't
change the results at champ. races, but probably not bad as a general
practice. How do we verify the experience? The web site lags behind
reality. Perhaps this is good argument of a log book, if prerequisites are
required. Perhaps a graded system would help. One 25 before a
50. X miles of 50's and at least 1 two day 100 (or 2 50's on consecutive days) before a 100. All in all I
don't put this as a high priority.
4) Longer hold times at the vet checks; 45 minutes minimum and 1 hour
at the half way mark. I also suggest we use 11 hours of ride time (does
not include hold time) for the 50 milers and 22 hours of ride time for the 100
milers as the time limit to obtain a completion. That way, if the Ride Vet
wants to add more time at the holds it won't affect the rider's available "ride
time" on the trail.
This is an intriging
idea. Ride time is a better measure of things than total time. It
surely would deal with the argument that longer holds are counter productive
because you have to move faster during the rest of the ride.
Ed
Ed and Wendy Hauser Sisu West 2994 Mittower
Road Victor, MT 59875
