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[RC] 2008 WEC Malaysia - k s swigart

Steph said:


I understand that Terennganu (the venue for the 2008 WEC)
is flat and has little or no rock, it is near the beach
(east coast) so there may be sand, but I think they are
actually grooming most of the course to make it as 'kind'
as possible.


Personally, I think this is probably a mistake.  Rocks would provide an 
incentive for riders to slow themselves down, and those that don't will more 
likely be eliminated for lameness before the horse runs into serious metabolic 
problems.

I haven't seen any indication that riders at WECs are willing to slow 
themselves down because there is a chance that their horse will overheat (and 
die??) if they don't.

Overheating is something that sneaks up on you, such that by the time many 
people are aware of it in their horse it is too late to do much about it.

Sand, heat, and humidity with no hills or rocks to obviously slow the riders 
down sounds to me like a course designed to encourage riders to push their 
horses as close to the overheating edge as possible without going over it.  And 
the "race" (which at a WEC is all there is) will go to the rider who does so.  
However, failures in the "race" will go to those who a) exercise a bit of 
prudence and stay well away from the edge (presumably something you want to 
encourage, but a flat, fast course does not do this) and b) those who misjudge 
this edge (since few people actually know where it is) and their horses fall 
over it.

I say, scatter rocks all over the course (or at least, in quite a few strategic 
places).  And by all means, allow more time to complete the course.  It would 
be a lot "kinder" to the horses if there is something besides just hoping that 
the riders show good sense to keep riders from running their horses into the 
ground; and it certainly would be a lot kinder to the horses if the riders 
aren't REQUIRED by cut off times to run their horses into the ground.

kat
Orange County, Calif.


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