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Re: [RC] Points of View - Joe LongOn Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:54:08 -0600, "E.L. Ashbach" <samaia@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: How can you argue on one hand that new riders need no limits, and on the other that new riders are too stupid, or irresponsible to listen? That makes no sense... It's good, then, that I didn't argue that new riders are too stupid, or irresponsible to listen, isn't it? No, they CANNOT! That is part of the crux of the problem. Unless you know the horse, and are out there on the trail with the horse, you can't know how he's doing at any speed. Whatever speed they set will be slower than some horses need, and too fast for others. A minimum can't be too fast. You can ride slower, it's the fastest that's acceptable. If the RM sets minimum that is faster than some horses can handle, it does at best no good at all for that horse: it is too fast -- and at worst, harms the horse by encouraging the rider to ride that speed. The point here is that no one, no vet, no ride manager, can set a speed that is a safe and proper speed for an unknown horse, even on a given trail on a given day. So what happens when someone rides at that speed and their horse ends up on the jugs, and they say "But I just rode the way you told me to?" You know, there's an obvious point here that I've somehow missed through all of this. Rookie riders are the ones LEAST ABLE to judge how fast they are going in terms of miles-per-hour down the trail! So how are they to comply with the rule? They're gonna watch their watches on the loops, like everyone else. You know, I'm pretty good at predicting how long it's going to take me to do a loop -- that I've been over before. Even after 12,000 miles I'm not so good at predicting how long it's going to take to do a loop I've never seen before. And you expect rookies to do that? Are you going to reqire ride managers to post a sign every mile telling riders how far they have to go, so they can "check their watch" and figure out if they are going the legal speed? Either they're overconservative and go too slow ... and maybe end up overtime ... or they come close to the finish, look at their watch and say "OMIGOD! I'm too early!! I'll have to stop and wait a half-hour before going into camp!" And their horse sits out on the trail for a half-hour instead of being in camp with water, feed and TLC. Some benefit to the horse. That's your opinion of people you want to have no limits for? I'm being realistic. The fact that judging ones speed down the trail is something most folks need to learn, is a reason AGAINST speed limits for rookies, not in favor of them. You want to require our newest and least experienced riders to have to do somehing that takes most riders a lot of miles to learn. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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