Speed Fault Maniac

      5 Comments on Speed Fault Maniac
Exactly WHO is this speed fault maniac?

In case you’ve been spending all your time watching cat videos on youTube……….

 

 and missed it….. there is a USEA rule change proposal pending at the moment.

What’s most interesting to me is the attention & upset about the proposed change to the Speed Fault Speed at Beginner Novice.

For those unfamiliar, about 5 or 6 years ago, in response to a series of nasty accidents, a law suit & some high profile TV time…….. the sport adopted several “measures” to try and increase safety.

One of those changes was that if you fall off in competition you are eliminated. Prior to that you could get back on and continue. Bad Eventer……. fell off at her very first event…………
 but was able to get back on racking up 65 penalties for the fall………

………….and so began Tales from a BAD Eventer! 

Another of those rule changes was the implementation of “Speed Faults” at the lower levels. Oh the uproar that occurred………….Speed Faults are penalties assessed if you cross the finish line too fast.

There always had been Time Faults for being too slow……

The current new proposal suggests raising the speed fault speed to one consistent speed for all the lower levels. Um……..why not just get rid of speed faults all together? Most other countries don’t have them………..and as far as I can tell they haven’t done anything much to increase safety.  

Now let’s get this clear. There is an OPTIMUM TIME. Any tie breakers are broken by the person CLOSEST TO the optimum time.

There is NO competitive advantage to going faster.

The current rule gives organizers the choice of running Beginner Novice at 300-350mpm.

A little math for you…………350mpm is 13mph. My 14.2 hand Arabian can TROT faster than 13mph so 350mpm is not exactly a blistering speed.

So………..the proposed change is to make all Beginner Novice speeds 350mpm……….which, as I just mentioned,………. is an allowed speed currently. Thinking of all the comments saying, “They are raising the speeds!”

I wondered if that would actually be a change, so I let my cat play with my touch screen…………..

She gets ready for the holidays EARLY.

…..and her kitty random choices pulled up 10 horse trials on the omnibus. 9 of them had the BN speed set at 350mpm and one had it set at 325mpm.

Can you tell if you’re going 25mpm slower or faster? (btw 25mpm is 0.9 mph) Phillip Dutton probably can, but for the rest of us mere mortals………………..

Since most events are already running Beginner Novice at 350mpm that means there isn’t really a change to the current speed……….. 

Back to the Speed Fault Fiasco.

I’ve read MANY comments about how horrible and dangerous they’re making it because people will be running Prelim speeds on Beginner Novice…………….

Really??

WHO??

I started asking around to everyone else I could find that competes at Beginner Novice, or coaches or parents someone who rides at Beginner Novice. I for one just barely MADE time at Beginner Novice for the First Time having had dozens of TIME faults before that.

I’ve been asking around and the questions & answers went something like this.

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So if they increase the speed fault time on Beginner Novice, are YOU going to run faster?

Um……..NO……….duh…………

OK, why not?

Because I don’t WANT TO! I’m competing BEGINNER NOVICE.

What about your students……..are they going to run faster?

No they certainly won’t. Not unless they want No Stirrup November AND No Stirrup December AND No Stirrup January……

What about your kid? She’s a hot rod………she might go 520mpm………

No, because she’s all about winning…. so she’ll be hitting the optimum time to the second. She’s not about to lose a tie because she went too fast.

Do you know ANYONE that is going to run Beginner Novice at 500+mpm??

Sure don’t.

Several people seem to think if they raise the speed faults it’s going to be bedlam and we’ll have beginner novice horses running at Prelim speeds all over the place………..

Really??……… I suspect if anyone is going to run that fast at Beginner Novice they’re already doing it.

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I asked A LOT of people.

I couldn’t find a single person who was going to blaze around XC faster thanks to increasing the speed fault time.

Exactly WHO is this Speed Fault Maniac several people are worried about?

Is it YOU??
 

 

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5 thoughts on “Speed Fault Maniac

  1. Emily Plechavy

    I for one don't mind the increase in speed fault time. I've gotten speed faults at schooling events in the past on a big TB that TROTTED half the course. I couldn't help his big stride and rating him that far back would probably have severely ticked him off. Were we going dangerously fast? Heck no! Not even close. But those 9 speed faults for my half trotted course bummed me out a bit.

  2. Nicku

    Hysterical…and yes, I LOST a tie (we were in first place) for going too slow XC on my 5 year old green bean horse at his first recognized BN show. I was NOT interested in him careening around at Prelim speed, I just wanted to live to see the drive home. It felt fast enough to me (it wasnt). So, NO, it's not THIS adult ammie rider!

  3. T Myers

    well..in Ontario there are a LOT of people who get dinged for going too fast at our equivalent of BN. A bigger gap for speed fault time would eliminate their penalties and basically make it a glorified dressage competition. Sadly, I do think a lot of the less experienced riders who like to travel quick will zip around with no consequences on placing. A smaller margin to get in without time faults helps educate on the appropriate pace. I think they should have just said circling gets your automatic 20 penalties.

  4. zebradreams07

    T Meyers, the point to increasing the limit is so that people who have naturally fast horses DON'T have to circle. If you penalize circling AND speed they're forced to choke up on the horse for the entire ride which is not fun for anyone. I ride horses like that; one of them was leased out the following year and I watched a horse who would jump the moon get eliminated for refusals because the rider was trying to ride XC at a hunter canter and he wasn't having any of it.

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