Define Overriding

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Jessica Tuteur jessicat@napanet.net
If we really wanted to have better on site 
diagnosis we would need something like 1 vet 
for every 10 horses. With 4-5 vets to every 100 
horses we often still have huge lines, bitchy 
contestants, etc. But thats not really my point...

The point is: Riders are responsible for their mounts. 
End of conversation. The vets are not out there to police 
the ride, they are not there to be sure no horse gets overridden. They are there to help evaluate the horses 
for the brief 2-3 minutes they spend with them in the 
vet checks. The other minutes of the 12 hours alloted 
is up to the rider.

For all that have been to one of the Nicholson's XPs 
you know that 80 riders can get through 5 days of tough 
trail with only 1 quick vet check. Sure now and again 
a horse gets in trouble, is overridden, gets hurt, 
whatever. But the majority of those horse/rider teams 
make it through without a problem and without any 
policing by the vet. Wonder why?

This is really about riders taking responsibilty for 
their horses, for understanding their mounts and knowing 
when they are pushing too hard. For those few who can't 
find a way to do that without hurting their horses adding 
more police isn't going to stop them. There are stories 
of riders getting kicked out of one ride only to drive 
through the night to ride another one. There will always 
be more rides and there will always be those few who 
will ride harder than others think is ok, sometimes 
to the detriment of their horse, but not always.

WE need to make riders responsible....maybe punishing 
them for having too many pulls in a season is the way...
but I don't think punishing them for having too many wins 
will work in our current system of points, BC, overall 
awards, etc. We should leave the paced riding to 
NATRC. 

I don't know the answer but I sure don't want to have 
to find 5 more vets for my ride! :)

Ok off my soap box now.

Jessica Tuteur
RM - Wine Country - West Region