Hold times at endurance rides?

["Dot Wiggins" <dotwgns@ruralnetwork.net>]

There is a difference in the total hold times at rides.  One ride may have
one vet check with an hour hold,   another may have three checks with 15
min,  45 min,  30 min, for total hold time of an hour and a half.  Still
another will choose 30 min,  1 hour,   and then another 30 min hold.
 There are a lot of variables in why the differences,   including difficulty
of terrain,  length  of loops,   temperature, logistics of getting staff to
checks etc.
  The rules require all holds to be counted against total riding time.
  In the case of a difficult ride, perhaps with high temps,  two hours of
holds may be a pretty good idea,  however it  leaves  riders only ten hours
to complete, which may push some to make it in time.
  If the ride is easy, temps are cool,  shorter holds may be appropriate.
  My point is,  this is not a "level" playing field and I'd like to throw
out an idea.
  What if all mandatory hold times were not counted against total allowed
completion times?
  This would allow  ride managers  to set holds that fit each ride.  If it
looks as if the ride may be very easy, why take long holds.  If it is hard,
set hold times to give more rest, eating time for the horses.  This may make
it a bit safer for the fast horses and not penalize the slower ones.
  Going back to the early days,  some rides counted the hold times against
elapsed time, some didn't.  In the interests of standard rules holds were
made part of the total time,  6 hrs for 25s,  12 hrs for 50s,   24 for 100s.
Maybe it is time to rethink this.