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[RC] Bar H Boogie - Complaints - victoria thompson

To all these hordes of people lost on BHB: You were provided a Street Map - yep, right out of Thomas Bros - painstakingly marked with appropriate colored magic marker by yours truly - did any of you bother to take the map out and read it? Maps are given out in conjunction with trail markings, learn how to use them.
As I was in charge of the 25 mile finish line why didn't I hear any of these hordes of lost riders say anything when they came in. The comments I got were: boy is it hot, I'm glad that's over, that was great but who turned up the thermometer, remind me to clip my horse next year, and numerous unprintable comments about the hill of significance. I will admit to a couple people saying they got lost, but figured it out and were happy to be done. If all these riders were so angry why didn't I get an earful? I was the first 'official' they came in contact with that could have remedied the situation for the riders that came behind them (or at least gotten the ball rolling to get the remedy started). When only a couple people tell you there's a problem you can't go jerking volunteers away from other duties to follow up on something that only happened to them. It turns out we did have one intersection that was poorly marked, it would have been fixed sooner if more people had said something. It took the 50 milers to come in between legs to alert us to the problem and where it was located. We got someone over there as quickly as was possible to fix it.


Re Water: Yes several riders came in early and called it quits. Complaining bitterly of the lack of water. I listened to them, made inquiries - said inquiries were to other riders, Lynne and the water guy, and it was determined that they never made it to the water barrels Lynne provided. The empty barrels had been placed by a homeowner and were not being maintained. Lynne's water was about a mile farther down the trail. The guy who drove the water truck to refill Lynne's water was working steadily all day, at no time was he sitting around twiddling his fingers. The hot weather had the horses drinking more and people sponging more than usual, if barrels went empty they certainly weren't empty long. The most complaints I heard about water was in the form of people water. Yep, Lynne provides bottled water at all vet checks and ridecamp - just so you riders won't have to worry about sending some along in your vet check bags. By the time the 50's started finishing we didn't have any left in our barrel of ice. We gave out Hansen's instead (such a hard life).

In general: At what point do riders start taking responsibility for their ride? Lynne provides ride packets with vet cards, maps, written instructions, ride meetings, a wake up call, breakfast, hay, carrots, bran and water for the horses, people water as well as sodas and juice, fruit, dinner, entertainment, awards, garbage disposal receptacles, more than enough porta potties with plenty of toilet paper, water spigots with hoses, water truck, volunteers that can be found out on the trail as well as in vet checks and ridecamp, a photographer, plenty of well regarded vets, a well marked trail (working in conjunction with a well marked map), and a heck of a lot more that I'm not going to mention. What she cannot control is the weather, trail sabotage, injuries - both minor and major, printers that quit working the night before people are to arrive in camp when paperwork isn't complete, people that don't let her know they're coming in advance, trucks that break down, Etc. With all the stuff that Lynne DOES do is it too much to ask entrants to remember that they are at an ENDURANCE RIDE and maybe it's time for them to do a little enduring?

Off my soapbox,

Tori

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Just because someone tells you that your horse isn't "fit" for
endurance...doesn't mean it isn't, it just means your horse isn't fit to be
"their" endurance horse! Go for it, you never know what you'll accomplish
with that "saddle horse" or "trail horse" of YOURS! ~ Darlene Anderson - DPD Endurance


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