RE: Prompting

[Wendy Milner <wendy@wendy.cnd.hp.com>]

We have all seen the ride reports where the rider says her/his
horse was going very slow, depressed, and all alone.  Then
another horse caught up, and their horse perked up and went
trotting on down the trail.  Most of us have probably experienced
this.

If you read about marathon, or ultra matathon runners, they
seem to be allowed to have some one, or many persons, run
along side.  The runner may get a new coach or prompter
every 10 miles or so.  This person encourages them along
to the end.  They can do just about anything except carry
the runner.

In our sport, we know the competitive nature of the horses.
They are herd animals and want to be with, or out in front
of the other horses.  So, having a fresh horse that is not
in the competition come out of nowhere and ride out front
"pulling" their partner along would be a great advantage to
that horse and rider.

This is what the AERC has banned.  No fair to the rest of the
competitors to have one horse pulled along by a non-competitor.
Of course, if you are smart and can tuck in behind a horse that
still has lots of go, this is fair.  As long as everyone is
in the competition.

Communication about who is placed where, how far out front,
how long ago they left the vet check, ect., is available to
all riders.  At the big rides, there is a leader board posted
at many vet checks.  At all rides, you can just walk over to the
timer and look at his/her sheet to see where you are placed.
It may be that you have a crew that will check on the placings
for you. I suppose we could ban all crews so that those of us
without the luxury of a crew would be on an even footing as
those with several people at each vet check that will care for
horse and rider.  *The evil even playing field debate*

Radios are just an extension of the communications issue.
Not everyone is going to have a radio.  And those that do have
only limited information.  A rider might find out that rider A
just came into vet check 3, and they can then determine how far
out they think they are and how fast they think their horse should
go.  But when it comes down to the final tally, only the rider
can say what his/her horse can do, only the rider knows, or thinks
they know, where they are on course (off course?), and how far
other horses are around them.

I remember Joe giving an example (I think it was Joe:-) about
leaving a vet check in the dark, and turning off his lights so
the riders behind him wouldn't know where he was, and the riders
ahead wouldn't see him coming.  Would a radio have made any 
difference?  I think not.  The crew (if any) was at the vet check.
They would not have known where any rider was once they left
the vet check.

One big plus for the radios is just basic communication.
A horse and rider goes down a canyon (which ride was this?),
the rider with the radio called ahead. The vets came as close
as the trail allowed and the horse got treatment much faster
than if they had to wait for the horse to stumble into the
vet check.

My vote.  Don't add more rules about communication.
--
Wendy

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 Wendy Milner                     HPDesk:   wendy_milner@hp4000
 Hewlett-Packard Company          e-mail:   wendy@fc.hp.com
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