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Re: [RC] [Guest] Matthew's Proposal - Jim HollandKaren 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. No "change", especially a significant one, happens without inconveniencing SOMEBODY. That includes everything from new laws passed by Congress to the remodeling of the grocery store....but people adapt. 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. This should happen under the CURRENT recovery time. This is a Ride Manager problem. Sounds like riders need to start turning in Ride Evaluation Forms with some comments. Of course, we have Nancy Gooch, Sam Bartee, Nina Barnett, 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_____. If they miss the cutoff a couple of times and get disqualified, they will quit doing that. Riders are not only reponsible for the welfare of their horse, but for knowing how to get into and out of the vet check without inconveniencing others. It's not the in-timer's job to manage your ride for you. 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. Large face clocks are common...and cheap. SE rides have one sitting at the start point of the ride that everyone uses as the "official" time. All you gotta do is sync your watch with it when you give your number to the start timer. Piece of cake.... 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. A ride that has this problem needs to change the P/R routine. In the SE, this is NEVER a problem, no matter how long the line. If fact, this can help you by giving you longer to recover. When you're down, you simply yell your number to the P/R timer, who jots down the time immediately. When you reach the P/R person, they simply VERIFY that you're down. The down time is the one YOU gave the P/R timer. 100% Accurate! Sounds like a procedural problem to me! :) 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. Just about every tack shop sells folding tack racks. I sometimes don't bother...just take one of those folding-canvas-chairs-in-a-bag that rides sometimes give out as awards to dump my saddle on. Cheap, lightweight, very small, strap on the bag makes it easy to carry. I remove my saddle EVERY vet check and could easily meet a 15 minute recovery time. Our vet check areas are ALWAYS a swamp! <grin> 6. All of the extra volunteers you have just required cause an extra food or whatever thankyou burden for the ride manager. I don't think we would need any in the SE...just business as usual. 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. Dropping below 10 can happen now....but EVERYONE has to ride to the same critera, so EVERYBODY should be impacted the same, so I doubt you will see this happen any more often under the 15 minute criteria. Again, no change happens without impacting somebody. IMHO, a little more effort by the Ride Manager, and insisting on better co-operation by the riders is a small price to pay to possibly save the life of a horse. 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..... All this is solved by judgement, slowing down, and training. Ride "that trail on that day on that horse under those conditions". That is the OBJECTIVE of Matthew's proposal. Condition, train, do your homework, ride appropriately and all these "problems" will go away.... JMHO. Jim, Sun of Dimanche+, and Mahada Magic =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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