Re: reply to NATRC Swanton by Guest

[guest@endurance.net]

Deanna German finishis2win@columbus.rr.com
on 7/23/01 11:13 PM, KIMBERLY PRICE at kmprice51@hotmail.com wrote:


> Lastly, I like my time to start at p&r when the HR is down...encourages
> walking in and having a recovered horse at the start of the rest period.
I
> did really like coming in, having 15 minutes go by and then getting a
pulse
> taken, and goodbye.  Just another little difference but one too that
doesn't
> encourage taking care of the horse ahead of time so they truly do have
15
> minutes of recovered rest.

Just some more thoughts....

The rider (and the horse through careful management) benefits by having
the
pulse down to as close to a resting heartrate as possible by not having
points deducted. Smart CTR riders know not to rush into the vet check just
as endurance riders do. Whereas endurance riders meet a comparitively high
parameter, then enter the hold, the smart CTR riders enter the vet check
at
a walk (which in most cases could meet the endurance parameter), then cool
down their horses to lower the pulse even further to minimize point
deductions. Horses are allowed to eat and drink during this time; unless
NATRC rules are different.

I don't see any less encouragement for care of the horse. The rider ends
up
being penalized by point deductions for not taking care of the horse in
the
vet check, in camp or out on trail. Do NATRC rules state that you must
leave
at your out time? If they don't, a rider could always hang around and let
the horse recover sufficiently.

Your initial post and your reply to me serve to highlight that CTR and
endurance are indeed two different sports and the riders that are
attracted
to one or the other have very different mindsets and motivations. The CTR
scorecard presents a lot of information that will likely help the novice
rider or experienced rider with a novice horse if they take the time to
read
and understand it. For a horse and rider who took the plunge and are doing
fine in LD or endurance, I can see where CTR would just drive them buggy.

Ones of the things that is consistent between the two sports is that it's
best to ride your own ride.

One advantage that I can see to the dictated pacing of CTR is that it
encourages riders to learn to feel what distance the horse covers at a
given
speed AND to ride at a consistent speed. I think more riders get into
trouble by doing a canter/walk/canter/walk than a consistent trot. (Even
if
that means trotting downhill on occasion.)

Hey, at least you got out there and tried a NATRC ride for yourself. I
haven't because I thought they were paced very slowly; I'm afraid that by
the time ride management would figure in my time penalties for being too
early, my horsemanship scores and my mare's loss of brains (equates to
loss
of manners) that I'd end up with a negative score.

Deanna (Ohio)