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Re: [RC] Rude Riders Revisited - Joe LongThis is somewhat a regional thing. But the way it is done that I believe is the best way, the pulse area (or lanes) is accessed by taking the horse through a gate about six to eight feet wide. This can be marked with just a couple of stakes and flagging tape. A timer sits by the gate and writes down the time and horse number as each horse passes through to be presented. When the pulse-taker verifies that the pulse is down, she gets the time from the timer and writes it down on the card. If the horse is NOT down, it must go back out, and the timer strikes out the time on her log sheet. Then the horse is brought back later for another try. Some rides impose a short penalty time before the horse can be presented again, but most do not. When properly set up this works very smoothly, all times are off of one clock, and it doesn't matter if you get a "fast" or "slow" pulse-taker or if you have to wait for one. It may not matter much to people riding slowly and not concerned with placing, but for those of us trying to finish in 1st place SECONDS can matter. In fact, when I managed rides, I would have the timer record to the second at the last vet check, rather than the nearest minute, and the horses went back out on the second as well. Note that it doesn't matter when you "call out" anything, or if someone hears you or not, or how busy the pulse-takers are, or how difficult it is to hear the pulse. Your time is the time your horse entered the P/R area to be verified. Period. The Race of Champions used this method, every ride in the Southeast Region has used this method for years, and I think many rides in the eastern U.S. do it about like this. But I haven't seen it much in the west. On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 16:36:14 GMT, Ridecamp Guest <guest-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Please Reply to: Karen Nelson knelson4299@xxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Joe Long: I have one big question with your comment that "the rider's time should be WHEN the horse is Presented, not when the pulse is verified". I have volunteered at alot of rides, and done my share of P/R work. I have NEVER been told by ride management or a vet that the time is to be "when the horse comes to me". As you know, sometimes it is hard to hear the hearbeat, for a number of reasons: wind-fat layer on horse- heavy coat-nickering to it's buddy-Lots of reasons. Then there is the horse who insists on moving about and won't stand long enough to get a pulse. If I have a horse who is just at the cusp of 60 (or whatever the criteria is for the VC), I will try to stay with the horse for longer than 15 seconds to hear the horse, especially if it is obvious that the horse is dropping its pulse. I have often spent more than a minute trying to get a "verification", and it would be next to impossible to call to the timer for a time to write on the card, and expect the timer to give me a time a minute or so earlier. If I have been doing it wrong all these years, I fear that I am NOT the ONLY one. Please clarify. As for Merryben's post- Not only should the rider be DQ'd for punishing the volunteers, it should be made known at awards dinner that it happened, and imprint that on some of the riders who are on the edge all the time, and expect preferential treatment because of their "perceived status". =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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