One caveat to interject from a veterinarian's standpoint.
Often, when ridden responsibly, conditioned horses look better when they
finish than when they arrive at a limited distance ride. Deciding which of
the dozen or so horses that do look perfect becomes a horse show with no
rational basis for selection of the one single "best" horse.
I have been proposing for a few years that we award all of those horses on a
limited distance ride that finished in great shape, regardless of time. This
way, if you rode your horse to that horse's level of competition you would be
given an award stating "completed in excellent condition." I believe this
would encourage all of the riders to strive for looking good at completion
rather than just the first one or two.
There will always be the yahoos that race on a 25 miler. Nobody can prevent
that. When I am head vet at a ride I do not allow the order of finish to be
announced. The riders all know, though, due to the boasting of the
particular rider.
What we need to do, IMHO, is to reinforce the original mind-set that limited
distance rides are for training, not a race in themselves.
Mike
C. Mike Tomlinson, DVM
Tomlinson Consortium
501-D West Redlands Blvd.
Redlands, CA 92373-4642
(909)307-2369
Fax(909)307-2366
CMikeT@AOL.com
Mike@Tomlinson.com