Re: Negative Treatment Towards LD riders and horses!

[Zebella <zebella@idt.net>]

Ok, I'll throw my thoughts in here real quick.

First of all, staggering the start by only 15 minutes was the mistake. 
we ended up with way too many riders coming into the checks at the same
time.  Was not a problem at the 1st check because there were 2 vets
available.  By the 2nd check it was pretty chaotic.

the problem was compounded by the fact that pit crews had a difficult
time getting into the check and it was verrry cold and raining/hailing
quite hard.  Our ponies had no blankets and none were to be found. 
managment did have blankets for us at the 1st check, but we *really*
needed them at the second.  Most of us stripped off a layer or 2 of our
own clothes to put over our horses's bums.  (I AM going to buy a rump
rug!)

Ok anyhow, there were a TON of horses in a fairly small area, and only 1
vet.  I'm assuming that one vet was still at the first check ,and the
other had had to leave for the 3rd by then.  Of COURSE the 50's needed
to be vetted through first....but  it's no reason to let your manners
fly out the window.  A simple "excuse me" will do wonders for people's
temper.  letting your horse shove/trample them will have an undesired
effect <G>  Comments of "you are ONLY a 30 miler" are guaranteed to get
you some results ...you may not like them tho :)

I think where alot of 30's were worried is that they were told that we
HAD to be vetted within 30 min of arrival to get a completion, and no
one ever told them differently....obviously if you are standing in the
line for an hour, that is beyond your control, but people were worried,
and rightly so about their animals too......horses were starting to
shake like dogs, they were wet and freezing.  kept trying to walk Pro
around as much as I could in the limited area, but he was trembling like
a dog...I finally found a wonderful volunteer and begged for help
finding a cover for our horses, she was able to come up with a blanket
and a beach towel (thank you Robin!!!!) 

Tempers were definitely aflaring during the entire stop, and lots of it
was due to the conditions...were it warm and sunny, things would have
seemed so bad.  mangement did a wonderful job all in all, but the
weather wouldn't cooperate.

I heard more than one first time rider say that they would not be back,
and I think that is really sad...if they had been shown a little
courtesy....who knows.

The one thing that I have a problem with is everyone feeling the need to
"push" the ld riders into doing 50's.....maybe they don't EVER want to
do one, and what is wrong with that??????????  Some people don't have
the  time, finacial resources, or physical ability to complete a 50.  if
all they want to do is LD, and they are satisfied with that, why should
they be ashamed of not doing a 50????  more power to them.

tracy