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[RC] LD Best Condition - Lari SheaTo begin, let me state that when I hear that Becky Hart has
spoken, I take her words as endurance gospel. She's been there,
done that, more and better than just about anyone else. I also
happen to agree with her. I, too, have ridden at all
distances in competition, and have produced 25, 50 and 100 mile endurance
events for 20 years. The 50 and 100 mile events are endurance
rides. The 25 mile events are limited distance rides. I have
an equal amount of respect and concern for horses and riders entering all
three distances.... the respect and concern are for different
considerations, of course, since they are different entities.
I haven't produced an AERC ride for the past 7 years until the WCRT
rides I'm putting on this June 26th, but in the past on my 25 mile LD
rides, I offered 5 Best Conditioned Horse awards, open only to novice
horse/rider combinations, and not awarding for speed or weight. In
other words, if Becky Hart would have ridden a new horse in my 25 mile
ride, she wouldn't have been in contention for BC. If Suzie Q
would have bought one of Becky's experienced endurance horses and ridden
him in her first 25 miler, her horse wouldn't have been in contention for
BC. Many folks entered my 25 mile LD ride year after year,
always in contention for the BC's, since neither they nor their horses
had completed a 50 miler. And they had 5 chances to win, so they
rode accordingly.
Was the judging subjective? Well, I've heard it said two
ways: Which horse would you choose if you're an Indian and the
Calvary is coming? Or, which horse would you choose if you were
caught in bed with your best friend's wife? Nyaahhh~~ that's not
subjective.
If you're riding to get away from your best friend or the Calvary,
you'd better be on a horse who looks pretty shiny after the first 25
miles. This horse could probably do 50 miles... or, at least, you
hope so. That's what we hoped in awarding those BC's.
Hey, did I mention that the reason folks rode those miles was for
fun? They knew they weren't riding in Valerie Kanavy's
league, or that of Mike Plum, Bruce Davidson or Robert Dover. And
they didn't expect to win the same medals.
Now, just like Becky, I'm not against awarding a Limited Distance
horse Best Condition on a 25 miler. There's lots of ways it can be
done. But don't confuse it with the AERC Best Conditioned Endurance
Horse score sheet, which takes into consideration weight and time.
Don't encourage racing at the short marathon length. A horse should
be capable of finishing 50 miles in one day regularly before he should be
asked to do 25 miles at a speed likely to place him in the top
ten. At the finish line, some of these 25 mile horses just
catch the eye of the vets... maybe because they've been well ridden by a
6 year old kid, like mine sometimes did. Or because the horse looks
like he hasn't been ridden at all. Sure... Use the BC vet
formula, without weight or time, when doing the final vet check, after
the horse has pulsed down to finish. The finishing time would
be noted, of course... we and the vets are all human, and realize that if
a horse finished 25 miles in 3 hours, it's a different story than if he
took 6 hours. But the most important concern, to the exclusion of
everything except "noticing", is the veterinary condition of
that horse. Of course, if you were trying to outride that
Calvary or your best friend, you probably wouldn't choose the slowest
horse, no matter how good he looked.
But this award should be for Limited Distance Horses and
Riders. Much as I hate rules, maybe acknowledge that a person
or a horse might want to step down from endurance competition, and this
year compete at Limited Distance. In other words, if either of them
had competed at Endurance in the past 12 months, they are not in
contention for BC at LD this year. Maybe it should be a 2 year step
down. But encourage folks either to ride LD rides as a break from
50's, to condition new horses, or as their current career, with different
prizes available, some tangible, some not. And they should know
that they are not being encouraged to ride at the speed of a top ten
placing in doing so.
Lari Shea
AERC # 7048
Finishing about 5000 miles since my first LD ride in 1979.
"What unites us all is a love of the out-of-doors, a spirit of adventure, and a passion for horses!" Lari Shea Ricochet Ridge Ranch 24201 North Highway One Fort Bragg, CA 95437 International Riding Vacations Akhal Teke and Russian Orlov/cross horses for sale
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