Bruce said:……..A recent rule proposal that will likely pass, will require that
a horse meet criteria within 30 minutes of the finish as opposed to 60 minutes.
This will influence those who race harder later in the ride when fatigue is at its
greatest.
Then Heidi said:…… The ones that we want to catch (and DO catch) are the ones who
hit 64 and hang. AND … there is plenty of anecdotal evidence
that a horse should recover to criteria within half an hour
Then Truman said:….While these might make people feel good and some think
"they might help" I don't see much of an issue with the current
rules.
In there somewhere Angie asked…… Do we have a problem with horses getting in trouble that take between 30 and 60 if raced?
Then lots of people chimed in with many good points and the benefit of their own personal experience.
BUT NO ONE ANSWERED THE CRITICAL QUESTION:
Has there been a set of horses that would not have pulsed in at 30 min AND did pulse in at 60 min AND subsequently required treatment?
If YES, then how would the proposed rule change affect that
subset of horses? (That seems remedial, huh?....maybe not, though)
If NO, then why bloviate over the issue? Move on.
If I DON’T KNOW, then draft Truman to collect data next
season to find out.
IMHO, that would be the correct way to approach the issue.
