>Anyway, I wrote up an LD philosopy to put in our rider packet which
>described how we felt the LD ride was to be used. In short, it stated
>that
>these were training rides to be used to prove how well you had
>conditioned
>and could take care of your horse for 25-30 miles. Therefore, the
>person
>who's horse looked the best over the course of the ride (vet score),
>and
>finished under the 6 hours/25 miles was awarded first. There was no
>"finish line" for the LD riders. They were not counted as "finished"
>until
>they met P/R criteria. We gave 10 placings.
>
>we started
>tweeking this system. First, we changed the system to take the first
>10
>"sound" horses to "finish" (meet P/R criteria) and they were placed by
>vet
>score. That is, if they started at 1 degree off and were still 1
>degree
>off at the finish, it was the same as if they started totally sound
>and
>completed totally sound. This factored in time, minimally, and still
>eliminated those who trashed their horses.
>
>Not liking to see any trashed horses, we tweeked the criteria one more
>time
>and decided to make the P/R really low (56) and the window really
>short (15
>min.). This solved our last problem, that of those who still wanted
>to
>race and were not ready. Those horses were pulled at the first P/R
>check.
>Horses also had to meet this stringent criteria before they were
>declared
>"finished".
>
This is an interesting system. I am not an endurance rider, tho I have
ridden a couple of LDs. I used them as training rides, and, knowing that
my horse is NOT an endurance candidate, I took just about all the time I
was allowed, but we DID finish.
My bailywick is CTR, and I must say that this system is quite similar to
the type of thing the CTR is judged on. The main difference, of course,
is that you are taking the FIRST 10 horses who complete within the
parameters and only judging them, while, in CTR, all the horses that
complete within the parameters are judged.
However, the very fact that you are only judging the first 10 horses will
still lead to racing. After all, if I were to ride really hard, but keep
my horse to where he is just this side of the limits, and finish in the
first 10, then I will win! However, if I make sure my horse is really
doing well and finish well under the parameters, but I finish 11th and
therefore am not judged, who knows who is the better rider and which is
the better horse?
But, Endurance IS a racing sport, and I suppose your system will at least
get the (troublemaking) riders thinking a bit more about their horses.
Anyway, it seems to be the best proposal I've read so far.
Joanne
JAlderman@Juno.com