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Re: AERC completion time rule - feedback wanted



In a message dated 98-01-14 11:00:31 EST, you write:

<< 
 The problem with lack of expertise with ride managers should be handled by
the sanctioning directors.  If they have new people/new rides, some pre-ride
overseeing is definitely in order.  If El Nino dumps in San Diego on Super
Bowl day, are we going to say gee, Denver or Green Bay, we're really sorry you
got bogged down on that drive, we'll give you an extra down and an extra
minute to see if you can get some points on the board.  I think not.
 
 The limits are there, and if I am not capable of meeting the standards, I
haven't completed the ride.  If bad things happen to good people, sympathy is
in order, but not points or miles.
 
 Heidi Smith, DVM--Sagehill Arabians (Oregon) >>

I am just thinking of a ride I attended several years ago when the monsoons
hit midway through the ride.  The ride is a tough one anyway with
tretcherously steep hills that when wet, your horses' rear end goes out from
under him.  In this downpour, you could not tell the trail from the rest of
the ground. I mean RAGING streams down the hills.  The ONLY way to move
forward was dsimounted.

Another time, on a ride I managed more than ten years ago, the temperature
climbed to 102 degrees...very hot and very humid.  Everybody went slow
(happened to be the SAME course as above-tough).  Two juniors had their
sponors pulled at the last VC about 8 miles from camp.  The kids horses were
okay.  We let the kids finish, riding (actually, they WALKED on foot) their
horses.  The vet and several others met them at every road crossing with
water, etc.  They finished..overtime.  I asked AERC to give them their
completion...AERC did grant it...

Unforseeable circumstances..such as the above and trail vandalism are NOT from
anybody's poor planning.

Teddy



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