death by email

[Onefarmgirl@aol.com]

Just back from a week out of town and over SIX HUNDRED emails (at least three 
of which weren't RC).   Holy cow folks!!   (Holy horse??)   What a prolific 
bunch -  don't know how any of you find time to ride.  :-)    Now I know why 
people unsubscribe even for brief periods away.   And of course being the 
obsessive-compulsive that I am, I couldn't just delete them.  Which is a good 
thing, cause I would have missed Howard's post.

And, yes, Howard, you did have the audience collectively holding its breath, 
but I admire your rationale of causing people to think about the consequences 
of our choices.   As others have expressed, I admire your courage in telling 
the tale, and your ability to take complete responsibility.   You're a more 
attractive guy with you humility all buffed up & you can tell your wife I 
said so.    We were all pulling for Dance, even after the event had long been 
decided.   And BTW, I can tell you after 25 years in emergency medicine that 
the face turned upward with heartfelt plea is a human universal, even for 
folks who aren't quite sure who it is they're talking to.

Along the lines of horses w/metabolic problems, I was so impressed with the 
slides shown at the vets' presentation at the AERC conference - I think it 
was Nancy Loving who offered them.  Just random shots of the horses at vet 
checks and after the ride.  It was very clear as one looks 'from the outside 
in'  which horses were alert & chipper, and which had that dull, 
shell-shocked look in their eyes.  I think it will be a good barometer for me 
to think about what a candid shot of my horse would look like after the ride 
- would I be proud, or embarrassed?   It's so easy to get carried away in the 
moment......... and so painful to realize some animal has paid the price for 
our ego.   I think it was Tom who said that if you haven't properly 
conditioned your horse for what you ask in competition he goes from being 
your beloved pal to your instrument of torture.   Don't mean this as any 
specific reflection on you at all, Howard, just a comment for all of us.  In 
fact, I think anyone who feels smug or self righteous when someone else's 
horse has crashed just has yet to realize their own comeupance.

So........please don't leave us, Howard.  You took your licks, now get up, 
dust off your butt, and take your new respect back out on the trail.

Pat Farmer