Re: RC: Kanopolis Report

[RhndLev@cs.com]

I was there for the 25 mile ride.  Thirty riders started the 25 and only 9 
received completions.  Of those 9, only 6 finished in the time allowed.  One 
rider finished within an hour of the original completion time.  Ride 
management allowed an hour and a half extension in order to allow two more 
riders (one a very young junior rider) to get completions for the 25.  I 
thought that was good because this junior only looked like she was 6 or 7 
years old, and just worked her butt off.  Cooled her own horse and trotted 
him out and everything.  

I did this ride three weeks ago and we were diverted that time from the 
regular trails due to flooding, also.  Because of the diversion, we did one 
20 mile loop and one five mile loop.  I compared the ride maps, and the 20 
mile loop we did three weeks ago was SHORTER than the "15 mile" loop we did 
yesterday.  One of the workers said I was the only one complaining about the 
length being wrong and said that no time extensions were going to be granted 
because management was sure of the mileage.  That left me with an hour and a 
half to do "ten" miles that was more like 15 miles according to my other ride 
map.  My horse could probably do it, but this was just a training/fun ride 
for us, so I pulled.  I was told that 11 riders in the 25 miler pulled after 
the first loop.  All of the 25 mile riders that I was riding with had already 
gone out on the second loop before management decided to extend the time for 
completion.  So, at least three riders cut trail when they knew they were 
overtime and came on in, not knowing that the time had been extended and they 
could still earn completions.

On the plus side, I learned the knack for keeping my horse in the fox-trot 
even when she's being obnoxious, and she was marginally less of a lunatic 
than at our other rides.  Also, ride management made check-in and vetting a 
breeze.  There were at least three vets available all of the time and very 
minimal time standing in lines.  There was a lot of water at the vet checks 
and they kept refilling it regularly.  All in all, I learned a lot and I love 
riding in this canyon!

Rhonda