Re: Instructions at ride meetings

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

>But if the riders won't take the initiative to learn on their own, what 
>makes you think they'll attend the extra meeting??? Does a RM have (or want) 
>the authority to force them to attend?
>
This is from a real green newbie's view -- at least to the endurance
competition end of horsemanship.  But a newbie, none-the-less!

The internet is a fantastic source of information...particularly the fact
that it informs you about stuff that you wouldn't necessarily think of *on
your own* before your first competition.  With a year and some of avid
reading, buying every book available and getting as much out of the
computer as possible, and as good of a conditioning program as possible to
devote to, you *can* be pretty well prepared for your first
competition...but not totally!  I can't imagine how much *less* I would
know without it!  

Until you've ridden 25-30 miles that someone else has measured, you aren't
really sure how much distance you have been riding...or how you ride the
distance when you finally get to the first ride.  There will be a lot of
little things that will crop up that will be new to you and your horses,
despite doing your "homework", that you don't anticipate.  Asking newbies
if they "have any questions" at the end of a meeting is assuming that the
newbie knows enough to ask a question...that is, What wasn't covered that
you should ask a question about?  If you've never done this before, it's
tough to know what to ask! ;-)  

If you train in fairly challenging terrain, you may be fine technically.
If you don't, or you've only ridden in terrain outside your backyard, you
aren't going to know what to expect when you get to a strange area...and
you won't know how to ride it until you've actually ridden it.  A brief
description of what to expect on the ride, how long the ride would take if
the horse averaged a medium trot, (telling the newbie the fastest time is
worthless...perhaps even dangerous...you just don't know how fast that set
of legs was cruising that got that time and, if you imagine that that horse
and rider were galloping nearly the whole distance and they made it in at
less than 3 hours, how fast should you go to be done in 6?  By letting them
know that if you *averaged* a slow to medium trot, the trail would take you
xxx amount of time. It would be nice to know where you will expect to get
slowed down and where you can (and should) go faster than a walk or you'll
get behind when you hit the harder terrain up ahead.  With this
information, the newbie will have a better idea of how to actually ride the
different phases of the trail.  

It's also hard to know what to expect when you roll in for your first vet
check (even tho you may have read plenty of stuff about the vet checks, if
you haven't done it before, it can be confusing...how to manage your time,
what to do first, what to do next, and so on.  Do you take your tack off or
leave it on, when are you clocked in, how do you go about leaving...do you
holler your number to someone or is there going to be someone at a "gate"
that will check you off as you leave.  When on the trail, how long should
you go on without seeing a marker before you get suspicious that you have
taken a wrong turn...and, for those that haven't had much experience
following markers, what side they should be on, and so on.

It's fine for someone to get up in front of a lot of people and rattle this
stuff off that experienced riders just take in and add to their data
bank...but someone there for the first time is trying to absorb as much as
possible and is going to miss a lot.  Having some of these points typed out
on a sheet of paper specifically for "newbies" would give them something
that they could take back to their camp and reread...hopefully to get a
better idea of what's going to be expected of them the next day.  It's nice
to have people around at the vet checks that you can ask questions of when
you don't know what to do, but sometimes you don't have much time or
they're busy talking to someone else, or so on.

Granted, the person pursuing endurance riding should have "done their
homework" before they get to the ride, but what does that mean?
Conditioned their horse to be able to travel over a specific distance
(time) without problems?  Obtained tack and personal clothing that fits and
is appropriate for this sport?  Read up as much as possible on diet,
lameness, camping with horses, etc.?  It still doesn't get them thru those
first few times where there are a lot of things going on, a lot of things
that the newbie may not even realize are happening...or worse, things that
they should be taking note of but are not because of the newness of the
whole scene.

It wouldn't be a very expensive thing to do...typing out a, perhaps, 2
sided sheet of paper with "Help for the Newbies".  There could be a spot on
the registration form to indicate how many rides (if under 10, perhaps)
that the person has done.  If they have done under 10, be sure that they
get the sheet of paper for the newbies.  I know *I* would appreciate
something like that -- especially since I'm a visual person and someone
rattling off a bunch of info (whether it was in a math class or at a ride)
does not stick as well to my brain as being able to read the hints.  Once
you're more experienced...and you have made friends who have done a
particular ride, even if you haven't, so you can get the scoop from
them...you won't need as much attention to the detail basics! ;-)  

People who haven't ridden in that part of the country may not even be aware
of the various changes in terrain...even if they ride fairly technical
stuff, what's up ahead may be something they have no experience with and
may need to be a bit more mentally prepared.  (I say this after having just
seen Karen's photos with ALL OF THAT ROCK!!) 

I think this is something that RMs could do, not necessarily required, but
a nice thing to do...and AERC could even make it easy for them by providing
a format or template and a list of suggestions of what to include on this
info sheet.  The directions for all of the distances and where there ride
heads out and what color ribbons to follow is not enough for the first timers.

Boy, I really didn't have time to get on this subject tonight, but there it
is.  I need to get back to my ARICP essay test questions now. :-p 

Sue

PS  I got Steve out on Blue for nearly 4 hours today (attention Jerry P
<g>) ...I think he had a real good time!  He should be ready to do some LD
in the spring.  For Christmas he gets appropriate clothing (some SaddleBums
and some half chaps) so HE'LL BE READY!  (I finally know what to tell his
mother when she calls for Christmas present suggestions!! ;-))   
 

sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.


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