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[RC] [Guest] Matthew's Proposal - Ridecamp Moderator[Moderator: Please remember to reply back to ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]Karen Nelson knelson@xxxxxxxxxx If there is going to be a reduction of time to "recover" down to 15 minutes for weight division placings, I think you are creating a couple of nightmares for AERC and Ride Managers. 1. The "IN TIMERS" MUST be competent person who have a solid idea of what their job is, and they MUST be in their proper place AT ALL TIMES. I have seen many a ride that had NO intimer to start the 30 minute window timing process. Or had only ONE intimer who didn't realize how inportant their job was and went to the potty, or..etc,etc.etc. 2. This is further complicated by the rider who is in the front/middle of a pack and who blows past the intimer in a daze, and pulls the intimer offpost and causes a cluster_____. 3. ALL THE CLOCKS & WATCHES will have to be synchronized much more exactly than most of rides I have seen in the past. I have seen some rides where watches/clocks were as much as 6 minutes different. 4. There will have to be an abundance of P/R persons so that a horse which has met the criteria inside the 15 minutes doesn't get penalized and sent out of the 15 minute window to the 15+ -30 minutes window because they had to wait for a P/R person. This happens due to not enough P/R persons (alot); lots of last minute entries; and/or the P/R person chatting with his/her pal who is riding and they haven't seen each other for awhile. Since these persons are most always VOLUNTEERS, you can't rag on them to any extent. They will go home in the middle of the day and leave you hanging. It is hotter and thirstier for them often than any of the riders, because they aren't even creating their own breeze as they ride along, no one is watering and feeding them ar decent intervals, etc,etc. Just about the time a couple of P/R persons decide to have a potty break, food/liquid intake, here comes a gaggle of riders and the remaining P/R persons are overwhelmed. 5. Since horses have to be presented UNSADDLED for the mid-day stops, this 15 min window would prevent a rider from going to his/her trailer to lay down their saddle in a safe and clean place. A marginal horse is always advised to have the saddle removed so that the recovery can occur. If we place this much emphasis on the 15 minute recovery, are we going to have battles about creating a SWAMP by the P/R area, as crew tries to cool off the horse with copius amounts of water? I have taken a LARGE tarp to Camp Far West ride just for saddles by the vet area, and it gets filled up in a hurry, but it also causes a bit of a traffic jam because there is only one tarp. I don't want to add a swamp to the same area. 6. All of the extra volunteers you have just required cause an extra food or whatever thankyou burden for the ride manager. 7. What happens when a ride doesn't have alot of entries? The weight divisions are barely filling up the 10 in each weight grouping to get full points. Now you are starting 11 in the XXXX weight division, but during the day, 3 fall out of the "placing" standings and into the "Completion Only" standings in that division (for example). I see this as a nightmare for the ride manager to know who got shuffled out of "Active" to more or less "inactive" status when they are figuring the ride points for weight divisions, and giving out awards which were purchased in advance by the ride manager. I propose that ride managers and ride vets get a backbone and start pulling questionable horses, or take the saddle and make the rider HANDWALK the horse in if they want a completion. Most of us wouldn't walk a great distance. When I started riding in 1985, I saw vets take a saddle at least 3 times a year and give the rider the chance to WALK the horse 3-6 miles. Now you never hear of it. There are many reasons why a horse won't recover in 15 minutes. Bringing a hairy horse to a warmer ride, and not wishing to body clip because the horse has to go back home to cold is one. A young or inexperienced horse who is totally fascinated with the large number of pals he/she has just discovered who won't settle down in 15 minutes. Is the horse fit? Might never know- it certainly is jazzed up with all of it's new friends..... I could give alot more examples, but I think suddenly cutting recovery times in half and putting alot more pressure on volunteers and ride managers isn't the answer. I still think we need mentors and rider sponsors----for new riders regardless of their age. JMHO =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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