All good point Nancy. For those of us that ride with hrt
rate on board the horse. This is not really an issue unless we get a fluke hang
up. Which happens, has happened to both myself and my wife and the horses were
both fine.
So, if the 30 minutes-60 minute thing is not
an indicator, and all of us with heart rate monitors can meander around as
long out of camp as we want, it does not seem all this debate is going
to solve anything. Perhaps we should go back to "dogs in camp"
To expand a bit on what Kristen said: Except for the higher
profile races where riders often arrive at the vet check at speed, the actual
time to reach criteria at vet checks from "trail speed" is currently unknown
to the timers & vets. Having worked many a PR area, it is rare for
riders to arrive at the in timer NOT already off their horse and walking. The
horses begin "recovering" as soon as they are brought down to a walk. They may
be "recovering" for 5-10 minute before they even get to the in timer,
especially if there is water close to camp and they've stopped to drink and
sponge. This doesn't happen at a 50 mile finish line. People ride to the
finish, usually at least trotting, then get off and do what they want to do
before getting a pulse. If you want to time the finish line like a vet
check, then make pulse criteria the "finish line" just like LD. Not MY idea,
but just think of how many safety issues THAT would solve.
I've read
several suggestions that rides with vet checks out of camp could allow
the ride manager to "adjust" the 30 minute rule to give them time to
reach the vets. The biggest problem is that would indeed give those horses
more time to recover, even though they are walking, they would/should be
recovering as well.
I also do not believe "crash cooling" is in the
best interest of the horse.
On balance I think the 60 minutes at the
finish has served the sport well. If anything is changed, perhaps a 15 minute
pulse (or as soon as arriving from the finish if distant) should be required
of all finishing horses not just top ten. Just a pulse recorded by the timer
(not CRI) wouldn't require a vet or take a lot of time, but it would identify
horses still high for closer monitoring.
