Re: Re: Safe starts at races...

["Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>]

You may not catch the front runners in the LD's, (we're talking about the
first 2 or 3 riders, I assume), if you spend a few minutes extra before you
start -- the shorter duration means less time you have to make up those
minutes.  I don't ride LD, so I really wouldn't know for sure.  But I know
that in most hundreds and fifties, those couple of minutes don't really
mean a thing -- especially if your goal is simply to finish well (top five
in hundreds, top ten in fifties) -- I've proven it time and again.  Don't
get me wrong, there are a number of rides where you don't really have too
much of a choice about whether to start with the group or not (Tevis being
the first to come to mind).  So you need to have a horse that is trained to
listen to your cues and requests even in exciting, stressful situations. 
And even though my horses tend to deal with these "stressful situations"
very well, I do not ask them to "deal" with the starts of most rides -- it
seems like there is no need.  Of course I don't ride to necessarily finish
first, so if you're ride goal is to win, win, perhaps my strategy isn't the
best for you. 
----------
> From: B.E. Jackson <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>
> To: bass@bigsky.net; riosanbravo@hotmail.com; ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: RC:  Re: Safe starts at races...
> Date: Saturday, January 22, 2000 8:51 PM
> 
> 
> Well, that is good news. I've been told that in LDs, if you linger back
too 
> long, you're likely never to catch the front runners. Any comments?
> 
> >From: "Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>
> >Reply-To: <bass@bigsky.net>
> >To: "B.E. Jackson" <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>, <ridecamp@endurance.net>
> >Subject: RC:  Re: Safe starts at races...
> >Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 18:18:00 -0700
> >
> >The easiest way to have a safe start at a ride (I've found) is to avoid
the
> >start of the race.  I wait for most of the riders to leave (while I
> >continue warming my horse up away from the start area), then I head out.
> >It seems to be easier on my horse (they don't burn so much needed energy
in
> >the first 10 miles or so), and it's much safer because I avoid the
majority
> >of the "traffic".  And, yes, you can still compete using this technique
--
> >I rarely finish out of the top ten.  Hope this helps!
> 
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