Re: RC: Re: reply to NATRC Swanton by Guest

[Lynn Kinsky <lkinsky@silcom.com>]

>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.

>Deanna (Ohio)

The NATRC rules don't require you to leave when your P&R time is done,
although if you don't you'll be off on your ride timing and probably have
to hustle out on the trail.  In general the NATRC P&R criteria are tougher
than endurance criteria -- to lose no points your horse has to recover to
48 within those 10 minutes and if the horse doesn't recover to the vet set
hold criteria for that ride (typically 64, but occasionally 60) by the end
of 10 minutes then you lose a whole bunch more points and the horse is held
for another 10 minutes and rechecked.  Two holds in a row at the same P&R
and you earn a trailer ride back to camp  (I used to ride NATRC Open
Heavyweight on a muscular, black Peruvian Paso and while we generally lost
more points than the Arabians -- it took several years of competition
before his resting heartrate got as low as theirs -- we rarely got held).
A big difference between the two sports is that NATRC (or any CTR) is not a
race -- the trail can't be timed by the rules at more than 7 mph average
for Open in NATRC, hence the horses rarely get into the high anaerobic
heartrates or even extended aerobic work like you'd get in an endurance
race.  Distances are shorter too -- 30 miles per day vs 50.


Lynn Kinsky (Santa Ynez, CA)
http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky