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RE: [RC] Jeanie- LD or 50 - heidiOne slight correction--the "original" rules
did allow for AERC sanctioned endurance rides down to distances of 25
miles. I know there was at least one 35 or 40 in central
California that predated AERC, and we had a couple of them here in the
NW (one was called Caswells and I can't remember the other--one was 35
and one was 40, if memory serves). Other than that, you are spot
on, David.
I'm not sure when the bylaws changed to define
endurance as rides 50 miles or longer, but it had to have been pretty
early on. AERC started in 1972, and it was in the mid-70s when
horses were being run into the ground on 25-milers in an attempt to
earn national points. It was soon after that that 50 miles became
the minimum endurance distance.
The big problem with running 25s as a
free-for-all was that at that distance, you didn't have much veterinary
handle on the horse at the single vet check, and most horses could be
gotten out there 12-15 miles and pass a vet check. After that it
was Katie-bar-the-door...
There have been four major changes that have
made our current LD system possible. The first was the removal of
distances shorter than 50 from the overall points scheme. That
took off much of the pressure to race (although you can never remove
ALL of the incentive--I've seen novices "race" at CTRs, even though
they lost so many points for being too early that they ended up
DQ'd). The second was the lowering of pulse rates at vet
checks--the norm used to be 72, and now the criterion to continue on is
usually 60 but rarely higher than 64. The third improvement (and
this one and the previous one are improvements across the board, not
just on shorter distances) was fit to continue at the finish. And
the fourth change was making the clock continue to run on shorter
distances (that we now call LD) until the horse's pulse comes
down.
These changes have allowed the LD program to
happen, basically. As the rides used to be (sanctioned
distances), they were really tragic. AERC was so badly "burned"
by the shorter distances that they made the bottom line 50 miles and
for a long time wouldn't hear of anything else. But rides
continued to hold non-sanctioned "short" rides (which was what we
called them locally here in the NW before AERC got back into the game)
in conjunction with 50s and up, as David stated. And by taking
away the racing pressure, they became pleasant and safe
distances.
As I previously stated, the changes in pulse
criteria and the adoption of fit-to-continue criteria at the finish
tightened up control on the whole sport across the board. The NW
(and I think someone said the SE did this, too) adopted the
pulse-down-to-finish concept long before AERC began to explore the
viability of once again having a policy of some sort to sanction
shorter distances, and when people in regions that were using this
concept were able to show its success to AERC, it became a requirement
for AERC-sanctioned LD rides. And the program has gone from
there.
That's the more drawn-out version of David's
"Clif Notes" version. :-)
Heidi
So why do we fuss and fight about this? A lot of it is history that I've=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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