Re: Learning Lessons (was Death in Ridecamp and Syria)

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

I think we should all be grateful to Howard.  Just when one of us is being
flamed for something we said on RC, Howard pipes up with something asinine
and everyone immediately stops flaming us and starts flaming him.  You'd
think he'd learn, but maybe not...


Thanks, Howard.
-----Original Message-----
From: Howard4567@aol.com <Howard4567@aol.com>
To: katswig@earthlink.net <katswig@earthlink.net>; ridecamp@endurance.net
<ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2000 2:30 AM
Subject: RC: Learning Lessons (was Death in Ridecamp and Syria)


>In a message dated 5/10/00 10:40:09 PM !!!First Boot!!!,
katswig@earthlink.net
>writes:
>
><< The lessons that Howard claims to have learned (in his
> original postings) are “Don’t do endurance at all” and “There is a
> God.”  Upon reflection, he may have changed his mind about one or both
> of these things.  Jerry Fruth thought the lesson Howard ought to have
> learned is to not try to do endurance on a non-arab, many people
> thought Howard should have learned not to go so fast, or not to
> race…Angie :), or not to go so fast on an underprepared horse…
>
> To be honest with you, there wasn’t any real solid information provided
> in Howard’s account of his experiences with Dance Line, to make any
> reasonable determination as to why the horse experienced such severe
> metabolic distress (as in what actually caused his gut to block).  I
> know of a horse that experienced reflux colic when standing in his
> stall, with absolutely no changed in his regular management routine
> which included regular feeding of an oat alfalfa mixed forage, regular
> turn outs, and light riding by a pre-teenage girl.  One can hardly say
> that that horse was over-ridden, or went too fast.   >>
>
>
>I didn't know if you wanted a response from me or not, but here goes.  BTW,
>you write extremely well.  My story wasn't written using scientific data to
>explain why my horse crashed.  I tend to try and keep things simple (simple
>minds like mine handle life better this way).  Simply put, I believe stress
>can cause colic, my first 50 with Dance stressed him out more than he was
>able to handle and down he went.  The story is written with emotion, not a
>plethora of facts.  Death, and near Death experiences, are emotional ones.
>
>You'd be amazed at how many emails I'm getting from people, just starting
>endurance riding, thanking me for my story.  A lot of them assumed that if
>they make it through the vet checks, everything is perfectly fine.  This is
>not always the case. The sad thing is most of them are afraid to post what
>they write to me on RC because of the negativity of so many.
>
>The leap from doing a 25 to a 50 is a great one; I hope you'd agree with me
>on that point.  When you do a 50 you'd better have your act together and
your
>horse has to be ready.  This really is all I was trying to say in my story.
>
>I know a lot of riders don't like my writings and, if I were thin skinned I
>would never bother writing them.  But the negative responses don't really
>annoy me like they probably should.  I got their attention and that's all I
>really wanted.  Cheryl can try and ban me in Arizona; Angie can try and
have
>me eliminated from AERC; I'm quite amazed at the reaction here.  The fact
>that a few sexual innuendo's in my stories result in some labeling me a
>danger to children and against the American way of life is a reaction I was
>not expecting.  I can only laugh at such nonsense.
>
>Your "lessons learned" was one of the best that I've ever read on ridecamp.
>I hope you post more often.  I knew Ivers wouldn't take your criticism
well;
>it seems to be one of his few weaknesses.  Normally, Tom's writngs are full
>of more facts, research and science than I can digest at one sitting.  But
>I'm sure the man is a genius and I hope to meet him one day.  Roger's post
>was factual; mine was emotional.  I couldn't write a story using only facts
>if I tried; like some have said I have trouble differentiating between
>reality and fiction.
>
>cya,
>Howard
>
>
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