ridecamp@endurance.net: BC and time to complete

BC and time to complete

Teresa Van Hove (vanhove@unavco.ucar.edu)
Mon, 8 Sep 1997 14:01:33 +0700

I just cant resist jumping in again,

Randy Eiland writes:

>In fact, all Top Ten are eligible to be judged for BC and the Evaluation
>Forms are very weighted towards the Vet Score, ie: Weight Factor =
>12.5%; Time Factor = 25%, and the Vet Score Factor = 62.5%. I don't know
>how it could be more fair than the current formula. The Vets have a
>great deal of latitude in the scoring of the Vet Portion and in my
>experience they use this latitude, as they should. Also, the Vet does
>not have to judge a horse that he/she feels is not deserving to be
>judged.

Randy probably gets better vets than some I've seen at rides - I think
BC would benefit from more well defined vet point system - some vets
give A's on hydration where B's should be given - do not count down
much for a horse that has to be "shoo'd" to do it's final trot out,
miss lameness or only count very minor point for it etc, etc. It really
does happen that vets count off so few points for these things that the
vet score does not really count as 62.5% (If NO horse would get less than
300 points on the vet score it inflates the time and weight scores)

>It seems to me there are much better issues to discuss than BC Judging,
>such as the Ride Time vs.Vet Check times.....Since Vet Checks do not have
>a standard "Hold Time" or number of Vet Checks in a ride, these really
>have an effect on rides. If you think about it, the easier rides
>generally have shorter and less Vet Checks while the tougher rides often
>have longer and more Vet Checks...thus, you may have 11 hours to finish
>an easy 50 while a tough 50 may allow only 10 hours or less of ride time.
> I have never thought this was fair or made sense, but this is how it is.

Well as a rider who goes to base-camp rides because I don't have a pit
crew I like to see 1 hour holds (I don't care how easy the terrain is its
hard for me to get things done in less time!) Shorter holds because the
ride is easier are not helpful to me. I lingered at the edges of this sport
for years (doing just a few LD's) before I joined AERC so I don't have any
old rule books but I thought that a ride manager used to have the discretion
of deciding whether or not to factor in hold times for completion; and I
think they should have this discretion.

Teresa

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