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RE: [RC] LD BC - heidi"...the folks who are fighting so hard to NOT award LD BC are really missing out..." Please stop saying that those who share Dr Ribley's views are against awarding a BC to LD equines. IT ISN'T TRUE. What many of us are against is considering only the Top Ten in LD since, prima facie, one must have ridden faster than everyone finishing 11th or further back. Some, including me, are not even against using ride time in the computations. What we are against, what we are opponents of, is requiring first and foremost, above being a good steward of your horse, above finishing with a horse in excellent condition, finishing FAST... fast enough to be in the Top Ten. Diane, I'll clarify and add "AERC" so that it reads "AERC LD BC." And I'll stand by my premises. #1--Despite the fact that many other regions have been doing this for upwards of TWO DECADES, there is ABSOLUTELY NO evidence that AERC LD BC influences people to race! NONE! #2--TEN HORSES will be the first ten across the line, WHETHER YOU AWARD PLACINGS OR NOT. #3--It is those faster horses that SHOULD have additional input and attention from the vets, in order to either educate their riders to SLOW DOWN, or to educate their riders to the fact that they are ready to move up. AERC BC provideds that format. Picking up on Bruce's comments about Dr Bennett's EN article, it seems to me that totally without meaning to, Dr Bennett has given Dr Ribley's position on LD BCs a tremendous endorsement. Although changing the minimum equine age for riding in LD to 5 yrs old would mitigate her comments somewhat, as things stand today, Dr Bennett's research clearly shows that riding 4 yr olds at speed is not in their best interest. It is noteworthy that no one here on Ridecamp has said that Dr Bennett is a jerk and OF COURSE 4 yr olds are mature enough to race. Almost every post I have read has embraced her conclusions. "This 'discussion' keeps going round and round in circles--and it's high time that the W region came around to see how well this works in pretty much the whole rest of the country." If one accepts Dr Bennett's views, then it will be "pretty much the whole rest of the country" who will have to come around to see that providing a racing venue for young equines has been a mistake. On the contrary Deb's comments underscore the need to look even more closely at those horses that ARE being ridden "in the front of the pack" on LD rides. And the AERC BC format provides that opportunity for additional veterinary input to the riders of those horses. As for the "young" part of it, what evidence do you have to support the idea that the Top Ten horses at an LD are younger than on 50s? I don't think ANY of us have that information, and in my experience, folks by and large are not "racing" 4-year-olds anyway. It seems to me that the "demography" of horses in the LD top tens is pretty similar to that on the 50s. It is the green RIDERS riding the mature horses they already have, for the most part, and it is those RIDERS who need our input. The green HORSES that I've seen in the Top Ten have by and large been there "by accident"--ie experienced riders starting horses off have ridden their own conservative mid-pack rides, and either the field was small that day, and/or there weren't any hotshoes there. (Usually the latter.) Heck, I've top tenned LDs that way myself, with absolutely no clue I was in the Top Ten, riding a pace slower than I'd ride a 50 on the same course. Gee, my hubby even WON a 30-miler once--on the first out on a new horse--with a ride time of 5 hours and something. Gee, he was rilly racin' wasn't he... For the record, I have no problem at all raising the age limit to 60 months all the way across the board. If you want to address the issue of young horses, get behind THAT proposal. But don't try to foist that argument off on LD BC--"that dog don't hunt." Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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