Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

A few years ago Mathew Mackay-Smith proposed that horses that didn't 
recover in 15 minutes could ride for completion only - no placement. 
There was a lot of discussion at that time. However, if I remember 
correctly which gets tough unless it more than 20 years ago or within 
the last 5 minutes - the logistics would be a big issue.

There is also the heat/humidity component. As one that has ridden the 
same horse in the dry of WY and CO and the hot and humid of the SE - a 
horse will down quicker with less work in the semi-arid climate than in 
the humid climate.

The other thing about shortening the time is the poor guy sponsoring 4 
kids and trying to get everything taken care up for himself and the kids 
and get the horses through in 15 minutes.

Truman

Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVM wrote:
> >When I was riding lots of endurance, I expected my horse's pulse to 
> reach criteria within 10 minutes of arriving for P&R. If my horse's 
> pulse did not come down >within 10 minutes I would be very concerned 
> and take appropriate action (pulling, expressing my concern to the 
> vet, slowing down, etc). Would someone explain >to me why we give 
> riders 30 minutes for there horses to reach criteria? Wouldn't a 15 
> minute window protect more horses from being overridden??
>
> Most fit, experienced horses will reach criteria within a few minutes. 
> I’m the same as you, I start getting worried if my horse takes longer 
> than five minutes or so, and I’m practically in tears at 7 minutes 
> <g>. A lot of the super-fit top horses will be moving along at a 
> pretty fast clip coming into a check, the rider hops off a few hundred 
> yards down the trail and by the time they reach the P&R box, they’re 
> down.
>
> Yes, a fifteen minute window might weed out a few more of the 
> potentially overridden horses, but doesn’t do a very good job of 
> differentiating between the horses that can’t recover metabolically 
> versus the green horses that really do need just a minute or two more 
> to get their panties unwadded. Also, the logistics of getting 
> everybody timed into a check and consistently judging when fifteen 
> minutes has elapsed would be tough at some crowded rides. There are 
> also some non-traditional breeds that sometimes show up that are fit 
> enough for the job at hand, but because of heavy muscling or whatever, 
> they might need a few more minutes than a typical fit Arab needs.
>
> By the time 30 minutes rolls around, we usually have had a good chance 
> to notice which riders are still standing around trying to get their 
> horse down. The horses that can’t recover in 15 minutes very often 
> can’t recover in 30, either---in any case, they’ll get noticed.
>
> Susan Garlinghouse, DVM
>
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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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