Ridecamp: [RC] protecting the horses...

> and 2) nothing "forces the conservative riders" to do anything.  Oh, 
> unless you mean their desire to win....Otherwise, they are free to ride 
> their own ride.
>
> It does if you MUST gallop over the good parts in order to finish on time. 
> All the extra hold times & "must walk" trails that are put in assuming 
> people will go full speed everywhere else, forces them to do just that.


      I think we all agree that mandating a certain number of holds per 
ride is unworkable.  Perhaps, though, we should try to establish 
"guidelines" for the optimum TOTAL hold time for rides, to be broken up 
among the holds however the RM chooses.  I say guidelines, because weather 
and other conditions can hugely affect what constitutes a beneficial amount 
of hold time.
       But this brings us to the question, at what point do long/frequent 
holds start impacting a significant number of riders' ability to finish in 
time?  How many riders are actually taking a full 12 hours to ride 50 
miles, and would shorter/longer or more/fewer hold times make this worse 
(time off trail) or better (recovered horses)?  In the case of 100 mile 
rides, time lost during daylight is often tripled after dark--depending on 
the nature of the trail of course.
        I can't help thinking there is probably a 'magic number' for 
optimum total hold time--maybe 1'30" for a 50, something like that... Also, 
perhaps the riders that are frequently riding close to overtime need to 
learn to ride not "faster", but "smarter".  Many of the OTs I have seen are 
due to people getting lost, etc...and learning how to do a ride without 
wasting any time is what is meant by "strategy"!

terre (any and all tips appreciated!)


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