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[RC] 30 Min Rule - Bruce WearyHi Diane-- How have you been? I appreciate all the funny stuff you send me. I'm always looking for new material. You make some interesting assertions regarding the effects of the 30 minute rule, and I would like to respond. First, the rationale is not to stop racing horses near the end of the ride. Horses that are truly fit enough to race to the finish line should also be able to recover. If they can only race to the finish line as long as they are allowed an inordinate amount of time to recover (60 minutes), they shouldn't be racing that hard. In my mind, the right to race is earned through proper preparation. I'm sure John Crandall could tell us a lot about exactly how that is done. The rule is designed to ensure that all participating horses are being ridden at a pace *throughout* the ride that they have been conditioned for and can recover within what has become the world's standard recovery time in an endurance ride and deemed fit to continue--30 minutes. There are those who can race all day on a good genetic candidate, with *proper* conditioning (how many of us truly have to the time to adhere to our optimal conditioning program?) and not push the horse into the level of "metabolic strain." The negative effects of exercise-induced overstrain can linger or become more prevalent well after the ride is over. We tend to think in terms of ride day, or how the horse "looks" by the time the awards dinner starts. We are trying to prevent abuse as well as deaths. You asked about horses that need treatment within 24 hours. There are many, many horses that go home and are off their feed, not feeling well, sometimes for days afterward. No one talks about it. I have seen this in my own horses, and I almost never go fast. We shouldn't presume that the horse is always largely recovered from the effects of being ridden or overridden in 24 hours. And, overriding can happen at 5 mph for a given horse. Most of our horse deaths occur in horses being ridden moderate speeds. Apparently, sometimes even moderate speed is too much. A little tighter recovery criteria that won't affect the fitter horses may allow us to detect the horses that aren't doing so well, whether their rider knows it or not. Secondly, it's the difficulty of this sport that attracts so many of us. And the flip side of that coin is that not all horses are promised a completion, nor is it a tragedy if a completion is lost when a horse is ridden beyond it's metabolic capability to complete the course and recover to a standard criteria that has been around for years. If a horse is pulled at a vet check for not recovering in 30 minutes (and deemed unfit to continue), why the need to ignore his fatigue and allow twice the recovery time, solely because now it is related to a completion at the finish line? The completion is lost whether he is pulled out on the trail or at the finish line, using the exact same recovery criteria. It's still a fun day, and the rider who is pulled under these circumstances may be more likely to go home and review his conditioning and racing strategies. I know I do. Lastly, you made a comment about horses and adrenaline. Horses that are agitated, or take some time to reflect stiffness after exercise may not be running on adrenaline. You mentioned that your horse "pulsed down fast and easy". However, adrenaline is a powerful cardiac stimulant. It's nearly impossible to have a heart rate slow down when there is significant adrenaline in the system. It's more likely that endorphins wore off, circulation became congested or inflammation increased so that the horse reflected discomfort. Adrenalin is a short acting hormone that gets a fight or flight response started, and this is then carried on by the nervous system. Our bodies can't tolerate adrenaline for very long--it has some nasty side effects. Maybe a compromise to your suggestion of a vet check between 30 and 60 minutes could include a pulse recovery before 30 minutes, and a lameness eval between 30 and 60 to detect those horses that were indeed running in pain? Finally, I think there is more than anecdotal evidence that horses that take more than 30 minutes to recover are often more than "just tired." I will defer to our vets on this one, but an elevated heart rate beyond 30 minutes is a tool we can use to justify a closer vigil over that horse, not only on ride day, but for the rider to continue in the days and months to come, if he or she is wise. Horses are not a fixed entity. A poor outcome at a ride, punctuated by a non-completion and perhaps some veterinary advice, may help educate the rider to improve his preparation and have a fitter horse and safer ride the next time around, at whatever speed he wishes to travel. One of the most common phrases I hear in our sport is,"Hey, there's always another ride." An interesting test would be to perform a CRI on any horse that isn't recovered by 30 minutes and see if he passes. I know which way I'd bet on that one. Probably no one reading these posts thinks they are one of the riders riding their horse too fast for it's conditioning and the conditions of ride day. But, if you insist that your horse will still need up to 60 minutes to recover, there is evidence to suggest that you just might be. Dr Q =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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