| Author | Message | ||
     JOHN GAYNOR |
David,I fully agree regarding walk speeds.Bet you a fiver that within 3 years there will not be a "timed walk" on the marathon.When we competed in Spain 2 years ago section a and b were combined and time was allowed to do a walk"if you wanted to"!!!If this is the way our sport is going to go it will not hold my interest! | ||
| David Stafford |
i agree with douglas to leave the walk speeds alone. To lesser mortals like myself having to play 'catch up' following the dressage, the walk section gave an opportunity to claw back a penalty or two. In fact when I am looking at horses with a view to competing it is essential to me that the horse can walk out. This is with the walk section in mind. The horses that we presently drive can complete the walks fairly comfortably. Leave the speeds as they are! | ||
| Mike Watts |
Douglas I agree with you that the walk should be part of the competition - the halt is intended for a rest. I disgaree that we shouldn't consider it carefully if we're asked to. There are definitely divided opinions on the walk speed, with a number of horse multiples in particular feeling the walk speed is excessive (while most pony drivers seem happy with it). I think this is because the walk is harder on horses than ponies - to get the same degree of difficulty for horses and ponies the horse walk speed should actually be 6.5 kph rather than 7 kph. Probably it doesn't sound much and it's unattractive to set a speed in half kph, but that would put them on the same basis and, I think, just take a degree of pressure off horses, multiples in particular. One thing I think is wrong is to change the walk phase of a competition without warning competitors well in advance. Many people put a lot of effort into preparing for a competition - days, weeks, years .. and to turn up and find some phase is arbitrarily changed without forewarning is unreasonable. By all means let's innovate, but with the consent of the competitors - or at least let them know so they don't waste time training for a walk that doesn't happen. these are just my personal opinions - some facts below. It's the Froude number that counts. Ref: http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/207/24/4215/ http://www.springerlink.com/content/m05p520540085138/ Practical assessment of heart rate response to exercise under field conditions | ||
| Douglas Strachan |
Please leave our Walk Speeds Alone Associated with my concern of the threatened demise of the 5-Section Marathon in the U.K., I am surprised that the BHDTA Council and the Rules Committee required “considerable discussion” to respond to the FEI on Walk Speeds. Surely the response should have been a positive “No need to change existing speeds” and decided in 5 minutes!!!! I understand that the existing rules allow the TD to vary the walk speeds and this allowance is to accommodate difficult ground conditions, extremes of ambient temperatures, etc,etc At some of Lowther and Alnwick 5-Section marathons, I seem to remember that we were allowed an extra 30 seconds on the second walk. If there are welfare concerns then surely the TD can simply extend the halt time and leave the speeds alone. At Thoresby an experiment was held with the walk. There was a 10 minute halt before the start of the walk and then there was a “picnic stroll along a nice level hardcore track” of 1km. with a time allowance of 12 minutes for both ponies and horses. To this simple soul this was a pleasant amble but was futile with respect to scoring and wasteful of 2 volunteer timekeepers at the start and finish. I note that on Side 1 of the Questionnaire there are no specific boxes for “All Members” to indicate their preference on 3 or 5 Section Marathons and Walk Speeds In 2007, there were 158 individual drivers at National events and probably 10% of these had realistic International aspirations For comparison purposes let us double this to 40 drivers. From figures estimated during the discussion on Club Affiliation fees it seemed probable that there are approximately 2400 Club Drivers/Members. Let us assume that half are Club Drivers who are not full members of BHDTA but who are our grass roots for the Sport. We may therefore have 40 potential International drivers influencing the walk speeds for 118 National drivers and 1200 Club drivers., ie 3% of the UK Drivers Is the “International “ tail wagging the dog? I was interested in Martyn’s reference to English soccer. I note that there are very few English players in the top English Premier teams which have a preponderance of foreign players and I wonder if this is one of the causes for the absence of the England National Football Team from the 2008 European Championships. Are these foreign players hindering the development of the English players? Is it unfair of me to use the analogy of the influence of foreign players on the England FA and the BHDTA enthusiasm for all that is FEI ? Prepared by the equivalent to the Pub Sunday Afternoon League Football Team Goal keeper, Douglas Strachan, |