I became familiar with the penalty system at FEI rides. It works well
in those cases because the vet checks are well staffed and riders
usually have more than enough crew members.
Last year one local ride tried the system where a horse had to wait 10
minutes if his pulse had not reached criteria by the time he was
presented. There were disadvantages and advantages to this. On the
one hand, it gave an advantage to riders with crews (because it is
hard to hold a horse and take a pulse at the same time). On the other
hand, I found it made me pay more attention to my horse (was his pulse
irregular? how quickly did it come down? etc.). In the end, however,
the local ride manager decided it was simply too confusing and
switched back to courtesy checks at the last vet check. Only 1 rider was
penalized, and it happened to him twice. Each time he made up his
lost 10 minutes by galloping his horse to catch up with the frontrunners.
In the end he overrode his horse more than if he had
only tried to make up the 1-2 minutes it would have taken his horse to
recover. So that is a disadvantage of the penalty system.
Karen Steenhof
Boise