Limited distance is a topic near and dear to my heart. It's a love/hate
thing.
I've ridden three limited distance rides since I started endurance in 1979.
They were all done for the right reasons (not racing). 1) My first ride.
(great experience but not uneventful). 2) Starting a new horse who was not
quite ready for 50's. 3) Bringing back a horse from an injury.
I've managed/co-managed 17 limited distance rides. This is where the
"hate" part comes in. For the first few years we put them on they were run
just like the endurance rides, like a race. All the ones I've ridden were
run that way too, only I never rode them as such, because that was never my
entent.
Recently, AERC changed the rules for LD and said you need not give time
placing awards, thus eliminating the need to make it a race. The ride
management committee I was on at the time, being very progressive, listened
to me and we changed our format to eleminate the time factor entirely and
judge on vet score (not BC because that factors in time). BTW, it is now
against AERC rules to give "Best Condition" for LD rides because it uses
time as a factor. (Our management group also puts on annual clinics to
attempt to educate our clients ahead of the ride season.)
Anyway, I wrote up an LD philosopy to put in our rider packet which
described how we felt the LD ride was to be used. In short, it stated that
these were training rides to be used to prove how well you had conditioned
and could take care of your horse for 25-30 miles. Therefore, the person
who's horse looked the best over the course of the ride (vet score), and
finished under the 6 hours/25 miles was awarded first. There was no
"finish line" for the LD riders. They were not counted as "finished" until
they met P/R criteria. We gave 10 placings.
Well, not all LD riders liked this system. They wanted to race! So, being
the diplomatic ride managers that we were, and wanting to keep our LD
customers (in this area they are the majority of the riders and determine
whether your ride breaks even or goes in-the-hole financially), we started
tweeking this system. First, we changed the system to take the first 10
"sound" horses to "finish" (meet P/R criteria) and they were placed by vet
score. That is, if they started at 1 degree off and were still 1 degree
off at the finish, it was the same as if they started totally sound and
completed totally sound. This factored in time, minimally, and still
eliminated those who trashed their horses.
Not liking to see any trashed horses, we tweeked the criteria one more time
and decided to make the P/R really low (56) and the window really short (15
min.). This solved our last problem, that of those who still wanted to
race and were not ready. Those horses were pulled at the first P/R check.
Horses also had to meet this stringent criteria before they were declared
"finished".
Here is the "hate" part that I feel for limited distance. We still get
those riders who you can preach too till you are blue in the face, but they
just don't get the philosophy. Let me give you an extreem example that
happens on a regular basis. They bring in their overweight Quarter Horses
(insert any breed you want) who have not been out of the pasture since
hunting season two years ago and expect to run them for 25 miles and "beat
them AYRABS" (insert "kick some A--"). Of course, they crash and burn
somewhere along the way. Then they blame it on the ride management or the
Vets because we are "prejudiced against anything but AYRABS". Then they
throw their horse in the trailer and take off in a huff. Don't bother to
hang around and see the Quarter Horse that is in condition who got the best
vet score.
You can substitute ANY breed for Quarter Horse but the attitude of these
riders is the same. They just show up with a chip on thier shoulder and
want to condemn ride management for their failures instead of learning what
it's all about.
I really think that LD has a major role to play in this sport. This is
where the FUN begins. However, it's not fun for ride managers or other
riders when you have to put up with the macho attitudes who show up to do
LD.
Currently there is no clear AERC policy on LD. It's pretty much up to the
ride manager. AERC (=you and I), needs to better define and refine the
rules for LD. We need to decide what we want from LD and set rules to that
philosophy.
How can we condemn the "Marathon Races" done in other countries, when AERC
does not have a clear policy on the shorter distances?
Todays $.02.
Linda Van Ceylon
lvanceylon@vines.colostate.edu