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Re: [RC] not awarding speed - Joe Long

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 09:43:29 EST, SteelSideDown@xxxxxxx wrote:

... We are out there competing against 50 other 
horses on average.  What do we have to do to get "the edge" ?  Be reckless?  
Override the horse?  Skip the waterholes?  

Actually, no.  You can't be first by overriding.  You have to
successfully complete the ride, including meeting "fit to continue"
criteria, to get any placing.  Here is a simple fact anyone racing
needs to brand firmly in their brain:

"You can't finish first, unless you first finish."

Ah, skipping waterholes -- nope, doesn't work.  Someone once said
"Time spent allowing your horse to drink on the trail is never
wasted."  Very true.

Well, with exceptions in the last few miles.  A funny story:  I was
sponsoring a Junior rider and we were chasing the one rider who was
ahead of us after the last vet check.  We're about a mile from the
finish line, and we have that rider in sight.  We come to a large
puddle and Tracy (the Junior) stops to give her horse a drink!  She
was doing exactly as she'd been taught, but less than a mile from the
finish (with the lead rider in sight) is not exactly a good time.  I
hollered out "Tracy, NOT NOW!!!"  She came on, but we weren't able to
catch the lead rider.

But, many's the time Khalil and I have stayed at a waterhole while the
thundering herd disappeared over the next hill, with him "cameling
up."  It always pays off later in the ride.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com


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Replies
[RC] not awarding speed, SteelSideDown