EventingMum
Well-Known Member
What are your thoughts?
Personally I don't like the idea, I can see a lot of issues with inexperienced riders chasing the time and riding dangerously when doing so especially towards the end of the course instead of riding in a consistent rhythm. To use a stop watch effectively xc you really need to have wheeled the course and identified your minute markers and not many people will do that. A lot of people only walk the course once at 1 day events, many on the day of competitions so it wouldn't be feasible to measure when the course is in use with a previous section or class and wheeling it on your first walk is impracticable as then you're still comparing approaches to fences and deciding on best lines. Inexperienced riders need to be focussing on the job in hand and monitoring a stop watch distracts from other more important aspects of riding xc. Those riding inexperienced horses shoould be focussed on giving the horse a confidence building round and not pushing them too much . I imagine most experienced riders won't bother with them and will rely on their own judgement of pace too. I wouldn't mind seeing them allowed at the Grassroots finals where riders tend to have some experience under their belts but otherwise I think the current rules should stand. I'm interested to know what others think?
Personally I don't like the idea, I can see a lot of issues with inexperienced riders chasing the time and riding dangerously when doing so especially towards the end of the course instead of riding in a consistent rhythm. To use a stop watch effectively xc you really need to have wheeled the course and identified your minute markers and not many people will do that. A lot of people only walk the course once at 1 day events, many on the day of competitions so it wouldn't be feasible to measure when the course is in use with a previous section or class and wheeling it on your first walk is impracticable as then you're still comparing approaches to fences and deciding on best lines. Inexperienced riders need to be focussing on the job in hand and monitoring a stop watch distracts from other more important aspects of riding xc. Those riding inexperienced horses shoould be focussed on giving the horse a confidence building round and not pushing them too much . I imagine most experienced riders won't bother with them and will rely on their own judgement of pace too. I wouldn't mind seeing them allowed at the Grassroots finals where riders tend to have some experience under their belts but otherwise I think the current rules should stand. I'm interested to know what others think?