an update on the Swanton Project

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

There seems to be some misunderstanding floating around about the research
project being held on August 12 at Swanton Pacific this year, so I want to
clear that up.

Yes, we will be recruiting as many riders as possible to participate in the
project---what we are asking is your permission to weigh you and your horse,
collect blood and ask some questions about how your ride went.  We will be
analyzing some several dozen parameters to try and find out why some horses
metabolically crash and others don't, and how we can identify the horses at
risk sooner.  Barney Fleming aka Vampire Vet from the Pride Project is our
vet drawing the blood samples.  After the ride, you'll get back copies of
all the lab results on your horse, about $1200 worth if you paid a vet and
lab to do it for you.  And we'll give you a handout that tells you how to
interpret and apply the information you'll be getting.

THERE IS NO CHARGE TO PARTICIPATING RIDERS.  Some people are under the
impression that they still need to pay to get the labwork done---you don't.
Just participate, and that won't take much on your part, it won't interfere
with your ride at all.  The entire project is being funded by Chiron
Research Foundation, but the success of the project hinges on whether we can
get enough participation to make it statistically viable.  If we do, then
knowledge of endurance horse health will take hopefully a big step forward.
If we don't, we can probably kiss further research funding goodbye.

If you didn't like the idea of horses tied to a treatment trailer at Tevis,
here's your chance to do something about it.

To make the deal a little sweeter (and to appeal to your innate greed for
More Endurance Stuff), we have a TON of donated stuff that we're going to be
giving away ONLY to the riders that participate in the study---you don't
even have to complete the ride, just particpate and do your best (okay, you
do have to at least pass the pre-ride vet exam).  I counted up the retail
value of everything being given away and it adds up to over $2500 worth of
gear---everything from books and videos, to gear bags, half bale bags, rope
halters, tubes of Lyte Now, MeshMangers, gamma seal lids, dosing syringes
and gift certificates.  A *minimum* of $50 worth of Good Stuff for each
rider, totally aside form the $1200 worth of free labwork.

So if you were idly considering coming to Swanton, hopefully this will
convince you a little more, and will also clear up the misunderstanding
about having to pay a fee for the labwork.  If you're *already* planning on
coming to Swanton, hope this will be your best ride ever.

Any questions, you can email me privately. :-))  Thanks, and hope to see
LOTS of you at Swanton.

Susan Garlinghouse