 |
[RC] LD's are needed! - Dodie SableTitle: MessageLet's look at this
from several perspectives.
The new rider (or new
horse). The LD is an excellent training tool to bring new riders and new
horses into the sport. Ride management needs to place emphasis on "optimum
time" completers, not "first runners" at an LD. I like the way the NE
handles LD's - completion awards only. No top 10, no BC, some RM's offer
an Optimum Time award.
The RM (Ride
Manager). The LD entries usually help pay for the ride. As an RM I
have discovered there are many costs with putting on a good ride that riders are
never aware of. If I have thirty LD riders and twenty 50 mile
riders, what do you think the chances of me breaking even on the financial side
of the ride will be if I stopped offering an LD? Let's assume that 20% of
the normal LD riders would do the 50 if no LD was offered. That's
only four more riders added to the line-up.
The older rider.
There are also many people that cannot do a 50 due to health and/or physical
reasons and the LD offers them a chance to taste the sport (or continue in the
sport) without causing themselves injury.
I personally would be
very disappointed if LD's were removed from the sport.
Dodie
|