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Re: [RC] Automatic Penalty - Sisu West Ranch:"...The penalty I suggested was that world class riders who present their horses to the vets and say, "I belive my horse to be fit to continue" and the vets say, "Well, it is not." should be told that they need to go home and learn more about fitness to continue before they can call themselves world class riders...." There a few practical problems with this idea. 1. There can be a legitamate dissagreement between observers as to a horse's fitness to continue. That is the reason that the FEI does have multiple vets look at a horse and vote. Horses are not sound or unsound, it is a continum. Judging the exact point where a horse becomes not "fit to continue" is difficult. 2. Unless the rider has his horse troted out for him/her before the vets see the horse he/she can't tell. Unless the rider is not suffering from DIMR* he/she can't tell. (I suspect that by the end of a 100 mile race there are few, if any, riders who are capable of judging if a marginal horse is sound or not) In reality, if this were to be the rule, it would be the team vets who decided which horses were fit to continue, not the rider. 3. FEI veting is already very adversarial, I don't think this will change. Please note that I am not against making "world class" riders more responsible, I just think that this idea needs more thought and work before it is ready for prime time. Also please note that while I have never competed FEI, or even attempted a 100, I have crewed for 3 FEI rides and carefully observed what goes on. Ed *Distance Induced Mental Retardation Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875 (406) 642-9640 ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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