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Re: [RC] [RC] [RC] LD/Endurance - Joe LongOn Tue, 18 May 2004 11:08:46 -0400, "Howard Bramhall" <howard9732@xxxxxxx> wrote: It already is a sport, points or no points. I don't see the 60 bpm as being the finish line really slowing down or reducing any of the ride times in the sport. Make the rules the same for the LD, give them points, give them a finish line, and give them rider education focusing on the horse in this distance. The pulse-down finish does slow down the ride, you can see it. Few riders race at top speed to the finish line, most slow down as the come in to try to get the earliest recovery. Teaching riders to do that teaches them a valuable skill for vet checks in endurance rides. I can absolutely guarantee that if you change LD rides to award placing by the order of crossing the finish line, along with points for placing, you WILL see more horses harmed and more horses DIE in LD rides. Period. No doubt about it whatsoever. It just isn't a long enough distance to allow even the strictest veterinary control to catch over-riding, and as Catoosa so tragically demonstrated you can kill a lot of horses in 25 miles. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com ============================================================ At the end of the day maybe the definition of endurance isn't the length of the ride but rather the spirit in which it is ridden. ~ Maryanne Stroud Gabani ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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