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[RC] Heavy Weight vs The Trail - was ROC - MagnumsmomThing is, Joe, that the HW riders are not at a disadvantageon a technical trail that slows everyone down and requires horse and rider savvy. On a flat race track trail ridden on horses that are suited for the race track there may be some validity to weight. Not on a technical trail though. Horses suited to a technical trail and properly conditioned for it have no trouble winning with a HW rider. Who wants to ride a flat race track trail anyway? Could Rio have done what Rio did carrying Courtney instead of Becky, assuming that Courtney's horsemanship skills were equal? Yes, he would have still been Rio, he would have been conditioned to carry the weight, and he would have won. See you at the Caja in 2 weeks! Kathy Myers in Santa Fe, NM... ... who rides LW, but doesn't want to know exactly where I'd really weigh in at ... ************ I wrote: >At every other ride the AERC puts on, there is a first >place... even if it's a tie. Why the NC of all rides would >not recognize a first place overall champion is a mystery >to me. At all other venues, I am leery of racing. >However, of all rides the AERC sanctions, the AERC NC >*should* be a race... and it's not. In a message dated 7/29/06 9:28:28 AM, jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: I think I can shed some light on this, as I was on the Board when a lot of this was set up. The pressure for weight divisions came from some of our heaviest riders, who feel that they can't compete against the lightweight riders. Originally there were two weight divisions, in addition to the Overall standings. The heavy riders felt that they still couldn't compete with the riders near the light end of Heavyweight, so we expanded to three divisions: Light, Middle and Heavy. Now, there were still two complaints. One, although participation in the Heavyweight Division was the smallest of the three Divisions, some heavy riders still believed that they couldn't compete with the riders at the lighter and of the Heavyweight Division. So they brought pressure to expand to FOUR weight divisions, which we have today. The other complaint was that the Weight Divisions didn't get as much recognition as the Overall placings. Some people wanted to do away with Overall placings and have "four separate rides." Some even suggested staggering the starting times for the Weight Divisions, so overall competition would be impossible! That idea never prevailed, but when the NC was last modified Overall placings were eliminated, making the NCs "five separate rides" (four Weight Divisions and Junior). Personally, I find the effort to promote the Weight Division "Champions" by eliminating any recongntion that ONE horse/rider team actually crossed that finish line first, to be a bit selfish. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.chipridehttp:
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