The proposal is an interesting concept, and may
have lots of merit. Before asking for a rule change I would like to see
some data gathered.
1. Is taking more than 15 minutes to recover
predictive of trouble later in the ride?
2. Is 15 minutes a magic number or should it be 10
or whatever?
3. How many horses who are on a pace that probably
will allow for a placing have >15 minute recoveries?
4. Is there an effect from high humidity and
temperatures?
The data exists in raw form on each and every
ride. The time of entry to the check is recorded. The time of pulse
down is recorded. All the interested parties (and I note that a bunch of
experienced vets and RM's are on the list) would have to do is to recruit some
RM's to organize this data and report to a statistician these numbers,
along with the eventual fate of the horse, and the temp and humidity at the
ride.
In UMECRA a number of years ago, someone proposed
that in CTR the time between entering a hold and the required P/R time be
shortened from 10 to 5 minutes. The idea was that this would better reward
superior horsemanship, etc. The proposal was studied at a number of rides
by taking pulse at 5 and 10 minutes. The bottom line was that the placings
remained the same, and taking a pulse at 5 minutes was a pain.
Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong I am not
against the proposal, I just want to make sure that it will change things in a
positive way before imposing more work on the RM's. This proposal has been
around for a number of years, so I see no harm in analysing already existing
data before changing things.
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower
Road Victor, MT 59875
