>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.
This is the way it was done in FL when I first started riding and I agree
it is a good idea.
>
>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.
>
At one ride last year where the manager decided to not announce the
finishing place but to only announce the top ten in alphabetical order of
the rider, many people objected. Tempers flared, names were called and it
got generally nasty. While ride managers have the discretion to do this, a
ride manager is really going out on a limb if they don't recognize
placement in limited distance. If limited distance rides are to be slowed
down, then the AERC will have to take a stand and get the ride manager off
the limb.
Since I am planning on running a ride next year, I would like to come up
with a creative way to slow down the LD, save my neck at the same time and
still be within the rules. One thought was to require a 56 pulse within 15
minutes at all vet checks and require at 56 pulse to finish (15 minutes to
get the horse down). Any advise?
Is over-running LD rides an issue for the AERC vet committee to address?
Truman
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The race is not always to the swift, but to those that keep running.
Truman and Mystic "The Horse from HELL" Storm
prevatt@lds.loral.com - Sarasota, Florida
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