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[RC] Safe??? - k s swigart

Beth Walker said:

So ... you are saying that ride management has no
responsibility to see that:
1) The trail is scouted, marked, and obviously
dangerous places are routed around.
2) Road crossings have crossing guards if there
is a high probability of a collision in their absence
3) Water is provided or available on the trail and
at vet checks etc.

Well...since I have been to endurance rides that provide none of these
things.  The only thing that the AERC requires is a measured and marked
trail with a finish line.

1) I have been to plenty of endurance rides that explicitly state in
their waivers that ride management has made no attempt to mark hazards
or dangerous places and that it is the responsibility of each individual
to identify them (especially since everybody's definition of "obviously
dangers place" is different).  So no, I don't think that ride management
has an obligation to route the trail around obviously dangerous places,
but rather the responsiblity of the rider to identify what s/he
determines to be dangerous and avoid such places as deemed necessary.

2)  I cannot count the number of rides I have been to that have not had
crossing guards.  In fact, it would be easier to count the ones I have
been to that HAVE had such things.  Personally, when I am out riding
(whether at an endurance ride or not), I consider it safe to assume that
roads might have traffic on them and that I ought to check to make sure
that they don't before crossing them.  I was taught this, I am pretty
sure, when I was about 6 (you know that old, "look right, look left,
look right again" and yes, I am showing the fact that I was in the UK
when I was 6 although I don't make the mistake of looking the wrong way
first now that I am no longer in the UK).  So no, I don't consider it a
responsibility of ride management to provide crossing guards, but rather
the responsibility of the rider to be careful crossing roads.

3) While water on the trail and at vet checks is nice, and I prefer to
be told if I am going to have to provide them for my horse myself, I do
not consider it a necessity nor an obligation of ride management (and
have been to rides that don't provide it, including, nostalgiacly, the
Outlaw Trail).  At the 2001 XP ride, ride management didn't provide any
water on the trail, such that after a while riders grouped together to
ensure that there would be water out in the Nevada desert (among other
places, _I_ wandered into stranger's front yards in Kansas and asked for
water for my horse). Water on the trail and/or at vet checks for riders
I have found to be the exception rather than the rule.  So no, I don't
consider it a responsiblity of ride management to provide water, but
rather the responsibility of the rider to ensure that either there will
be water or to provide it for him/herself.

Information in advance on what ride management is or isn't going to
provide is nice, but I consider it safe to assume that unless explicitly
stated otherwise, what ride management is going to provide is what the
AERC requires them to provide, which is a marked trail with a finish
line and a control vet at the vet checks (I don't even assume that a
treatment vet will be available, and have been to plenty of rides that
have handed out the phone number and location of the nearest veterinary
hospital in the event my horse is in need of treatment).

At an AERC ride there is no reason to assume that ride management will
provide anything more than what the AERC requires in its rules.  Many
rides DO provide more than this, but these things are "perks."

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)



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