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RE: [RC] who is captain of the ship - David LeBlanc
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Barbara McCrary said:
I think I pretty much agree with you, Bob. The placing in a ride
has true significance. But if people keep worrying about how terrible it is
having the occasional horse die (and I'm not suggesting it's OK, mind you),
then what is the solution but to stop the speed motive? We want our cake,
but want to be able to eat it, too. If we want racing, then we are going to
have to accept the fact that a horse will die occasionally. Unless, of
course, we find some way to prevent death. I don't have a truly useful
solution, does anyone else?
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As Heidi and others pointed out recently, it is not going fast that is the
problem. It isn't racing that's the problem. It's going fast and racing on a
horse that isn't fit enough to go that fast. Some people do this by mistake
(we can educate these), and I think some don't care much about their horses
(education won't help - they already know everything they want to).
I think you can make the problem better with 2 approaches - first is do
something to slow new people down just a little. Make them get 1/2 a clue
before letting them go as fast as they want. I'm not talking seriously
restrictive - maybe 7 or 8 MPH or so for say 3 rides. A 3 1/2 hour 25 is
still fairly quick.
Second is set up a system somewhat like our driver's license system. You do
something bad, you get negative points. Finish a ride fit to continue, you
get positive points. Maybe if you're new, and want to go to rider education
school, work as a vet scribe and get some bonus points that way. If you get
too many negative points in too short a time, you might be a problem rider,
and it triggers an automatic protest, and real people look at your record
and decide what to do with you. Some folks just hit a bad streak, others are
trying to do 100's on a 50 mile horse, and yet others are people who
habitually don't do the right thing. I'd like to have a mechanism to get
that last bunch out of the sport.
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