The AERC Welfare of the Horse Committee and Rules Committees have been working on a rule revision and new rule to address a situation that occurred at a recent New Mexico Ride. At the ride in question, 2 riders entered and rode 2 different horses in the ride. The riders rode the first set of horses over the complete 50 mile course in less than 6 hours, stopping for the required vet checks. The riders then rode the same course with a second set of horses, stopping for the required vet checks. In order to complete both horses in less than 12 hours and meet the required vet check hold times, the riders had to ride the 50 mile course in less than 4.5 hours for an average pace of 11.1 miles per hour. The Welfare of the Horse Committee is opposed to this behavior for several reasons: this behavior contradicts the ideals of AERC where “To Finish is To Win” and promotes overriding allowing riders to compete in concurrent events/distances on more than one horse discourages riders from providing adequate care to their mounts as they may be left unattended while the rider is out on trail with another horse allowing riders to enter an event on more than one horse encourages riders to ride the course at a pace that may be detrimental to the horse as they may be pushing the clock in excess of what the horse is accustomed to in order to make the time constraints which would be in theory half the distance allowed by current AERC rules allowing riders to compete multiple times in a single event also promotes an unfair advantage to some riders with multiple mounts to advance in points and milage awards The Welfare of the Horse Committee seeks input from AERC MEMBERS to advise of their opinion on the addition of a rule or modification of a current rule to prevent this from occurring in the future.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 18:44:58 +0000
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