Re: RC: Re: Fw: Re: Getting Pulled

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/28/00 6:10:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time, TOS@htcomp.net 
writes:

<< I don't think that buyers will be put off by an *occasional* incident.
 (especially if you save the vet sheet to show them that it was a minor
 incident). I think that Very, very few (high mileage) horses have a 100%
 completion and people understand that and appreciate the horse not being
 pushed too hard.  KUDOs to those few horses and their rider/managers!!! >>

I have to laugh here, Becky--reminds me of the sad pull of Rio at the World 
Championship in The Hague, Netherlands.  This valiant horse took a misstep 
where the sand met the pavement and skinned his knee.  It was my 
understanding (I wasn't there) that although Becky Hart was able to drop back 
and go on a couple more legs, the injury stiffened up.  It was also my 
understanding that it was largely Becky's decision to pull.  Did anyone think 
ANY less of this valiant horse or his rider?  Heck, no!  We wept for his 
misfortune.  And we all cheered when he won BC as an "old timer" at the next 
WEC in Kansas.  And I did not see Darla Westlake's "pull for lameness" on MC 
Rams Z at the Pan Am in 1997 (when he was in the lead and ran a stob into his 
coronet band) affect his "ratings" one bit as he was selected to go to the 
WEC in the UAE in 1998 and was a member of the silver medal USA team there.  
Lame is lame.  Doesn't matter how it is reported or "who" did the pulling. 
What matters is the talent of the horse and the integrity of the rider--and 
publishing does not change either of those things one whit.

Heidi