Re: RC: Fw: Fwd: and LD BC

["Nancy Mitts" <mitts_n@hotmail.com>]

Lif,
The problem is, unless you judge condition by something other than the AERC 
sheet a big chunk of points comes for being the first to finish (200 
points). And the other riders are penalized time points for how far behind 
the first place they are, so the incentive is to finish as far in front as 
possible. And, unless the horses aren't sound at the finish, they usually 
get decent vet scores,too. After all, they're only going 25 miles, and 
passed a vet check about half way through. If the vets did their job at the 
check, they won't deteriorate much in that last 8-12 miles. Horses can be 
conditioned to do those 25's pretty darn fast & still look good.
I agree LD should be considered for training. But is it fair to say LD'ers 
shouldn't try for 2 hour 25's when everyone ooh's & aah's over 8 hour 
100's?? (Which is 4 25 mile rides!)
True, that isn't how I would choose to train one, but as a group we send 
pretty mixed signals for beginners.
OCER used to place LD horses by the BC sheet & time of finish usually 
determined the winner. We now place the horses according to when they reach 
criteria. I haven't seen any difference in the overall conditioning or care 
the rider's take of their horses, or average ride times over the same 
courses.
Nancy Mitts

>From: Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>
>To: Ridecamp <ridecamp@endurance.net>
>Subject: RC:   Fw: Fwd: RC:  Ride Meals, Entry Fees and LD BC
>Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2000 20:53:14 -0600
>
>At 10:26 AM 6/6/00 -0600, Sandy wrote:
>>-there should be as little glory as possible for racing through a
>>25....Just my very humble opinion....
>
>I think the ONLY award for LD should be condition awards.  I can't begin to
>imagine how that would work, but just think - riders without properly
>conditioned horses would be penalized no matter what position they
>finished, and well conditioned horses would be rewarded.
>
>In fact, when I win the lottery I'll offer *big* money prizes for BC awards
>in all endurance distances to encourage condition as the focus, as opposed
>to order of finish.   Oops - I guess I better go out & buy a ticket one of
>these days.  Lif
>
>
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