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Jane Edwards and John Robertson
explain Vet Gates
(extracts from a group/regional meeting)
The message was: know your horse by practising at home
taking the pulse as you come in after training. Know how fast the pulse drops
so that you can maybe take a chance that the horse at a 70 or 67 pulse will have dropped to 64 by the time you get to the
vetting. You are not allowed to crew within 2km of the Vet Gate so one member
of your crew should wait just past the Timekeeper to pour water on as you are
led to your crew point. If your horse is fit and well-prepared it should be
possible to walk through and declare in a couple of minutes. Do not keep cooling
down to the 50's, you are wasting time.
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If you find the pulse stuck - it is worth walking round in a
circle which will probably do the trick unless there is a real problem.
Cooling, feeding, electrolytes were all discussed.
The question was asked:
When does the minimum speed take effect - when I come into the Vet Gate or when
I declare? Because if I am on minimum speed at the entrance I
will be slower when I declare for vetting.
We said at the Entrance as it is the Timekeeper who can make the calculation, then we thought maybe not as the riding time has not stopped
until declaration. We were convincing ourselves that the latter must be correct
when John Robertson appeared and said that it was at the Entrance to the Vet Gate
The Vet Gate CLOSES when the last
rider exceeded the time limit for the section and would thus be UNABLE to declare and would be
eliminated as no vets would be available to vet.(unless
required on medical grounds).The Timekeeper would remain until the last rider
on course had come in - even though eliminated.
With the mass start, everyone starts at the same nominal time and the vet.gates' closing times will be calculated and posted in
advance. (Should be!)
This means that a rider CANNOT declare if they have exceeded the time on
arrival at the Vet.Gate..
Easy when you think hard enough!
You must of course DECLARE within 30 minutes of arrival but if you have a
problem you will clearly wait outside until you think you can meet the pulse
rate within your maximum 30 minutes. You can present once more within that 30
minutes if you fail PULSE, not lameness, the first time. Some organisers
stipulate 10 minutes between presentations - check at the briefing.
Hold times are announced at the pre-ride briefing by the
vets/organisers.
The pulse rate levels internationally are being reduced to
maybe 56 and this may soon become a national rule.
Also riders were reminded they could dismount and walk in to the Vet.Gates but must be mounted for the Start and Finish.
What about being less than the minimum speed from the last Vet Gate to the
Finish? We had no idea if eliminations were enforced if someone was half an
hour in front the horse behind....???
copyright: Nita Osborne
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Endurance GB The Competitive Long Distance Horse Riding Society for England and Wales
National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 2RP
telephone: 02476 697929
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Endurance GB The Competitive Long Distance Horse Riding Society for England and Wales
"Our mission is to promote and enhance the sport of Endurance (Competitive Long Distance) Riding within the United Kingdom, by providing competition, training and development opportunities that will appeal to all levels of rider from beginner to world class winner."
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