Re: RC: "Pulled" is More Info Than Just on Horse/Rider

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

 But, one might also note the >quality of 
>trail laid out by the Ride Manager and if it is indeed a "Fair" trail, 
>which >can be negotiated by most riders riding to the conditioning level
of >their >horses in the given time.
>    If one sees, say 50 starters and 25 pulls on a given>hundred....what
does >that say about the difficulty of the trail?...

Yep.  Seems like it would tell ya something doesn't it?  Then I look at
the Million Pines ride, and compare it to my ride, Longstreet's Charge. 
Million Pines has had a pull rate of around 40% at times.  It's the
easiest ride you can imagine.  Good footing, no rocks, the sand isn't
deep, there's not a better marked trail in the world, well measured...why
is that?  Now compare with mine.  ROCKY, ROCKY, ROCKY, more confusing to
mark since it laps back over itself, pretty darned mountainous, later in
the Spring so hotter weather...and out of 68 or so entries I think we had
about 2 or 3 pulls.  Why is that?  I think it goes back to my theory that
speed takes a horse out faster than anything.  Also, being able to see
horses way up ahead will make a horse go faster than he should.  At my
ride, they can seldom see over 50 yards ahead.  They have to walk a lot
on the first loop (going up a trail with slow footing). 

If I see a ride with an extremely high pull rate, I ask someone who was
there.  Sometimes they say, "there was a new vet with an attitude who was
pulling horses right and left" or "that was the day it rained torentially
during the ride and the lightning was so incredible".  Or, "It tends to
be that way at Million Pines, maybe because it's the first ride of the
Spring for many, so be sure and clip and respect the heat".  

Angie

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