 |
Re: [RC] AERC National Championships with an International - Joe LongSteph Teeter wrote:< forwarded from Michele Roush > ... The pulse time was recorded when a horsewent in through the vet gate to see the veterinarians, before the heartrate was ever taken. This is very different from the standard AERC ride, where the riders have to wait for their pulse time to be recorded until after a P&R volunteer can be located and the heartrate can be counted. The way it was done at the Championships ensured that if two horses presented for P&R at the same time, they would have the same pulse time. It took away any possibility that the pulse time for a horse would depend upon the availability and skill of any P&R volunteer. This is the way it's been done at many AERC rides for at least 20 years now. When I was riding in the Southeast Region nearly every ride did it that way. When you believe your horse is down and you are ready for a check, you walk him through a gate, and the time you pass through it is recorded. If his pulse is verified down, that's your time, if it is not, you go back out and come back later (that time is scratched). Volunteers do take the pulse, but a lot of that is done with electronic devices these days. That is also the method that was used by the Race of Champions, although they included a time penalty before you could come back again if you failed the first check. I've always considered this the simplest, most trouble-free, and by far the FAIREST way to do it. I've never understood why every ride doesn't do it that way. A little story: once at the Old Dominion 100 the last vet check was a stop&go five miles from the finish -- no hold time at all, when your pulse was down the vet checked the horse and as soon as the vet was finished you were free to go. Matthew Mackay-Smith, another rider and I all arrived at that check together, and we were all down immediately, but there were only two vets there. So I had to wait until the others were checked before a vet was able to check Kahlil. When told they could go, Matthew said he wasn't leaving until they finished checking Kahlil. They reminded him that there was no hold time, he was free to go, but he said "We all recovered together and it's only fair that we all go out together." Which we did.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|