Horses requiring vet care at Tevis

[Onefarmgirl@aol.com]

Well, some interesting responses to my question about this.   I heard from a 
half a dozen folks, all with essentially the same reply - somewhere in the 
vicinity of 25 horses required IV fluids and/or other relatively aggressive 
veterinary care.   That's about 10% of horses entered.

Disclaimer:  None of the folks who replied was a ride official, or one of the 
treating vets, so the fact that all seemed to have approximately the same 
number to offer still doesn't necessarily mean that this is accurate.   (As 
we have seen on RC, sometimes "everyone" has the same WRONG information.)  

Oddly enough, three of the six folks who replied included a comment to the 
effect that we probably wouldn't be able to confirm the actual number of 
treated horses, and two offered a disclaimer asking not to be quoted as the 
source of info.   Of course their request for privacy is completely fine, but 
the fact that they felt confidentiality might be necessary for some reason 
adds to my sense of unease.    Surely these numbers are known to the vets, 
and aren't a nasty little secret?

So.....  I'm inclined to open a discussion, based on a the apparently high 
number of horses requiring treatment.   Don't you folks think this is of 
special concern?   I understand it's a tough ride, but sheesh!     I can just 
imagine how some of us would respond if we heard that 10% of rodeo horses or 
track horses required IV therapy after an event.   I can just see one of 
those photos of a "line" of horses with jugs hanging published by PETA.  
Yikes!

Could the high number of treated horses just be representative of better or 
more available vet care?   Obviously, with a 49% completion rate, the vets 
were reasonably aggressive about pulling horses that didn't look good to go. 

I'm sure willing to hear from anyone who wants to dispute these numbers.  If 
the numbers are accurate, I'd really be interested in any input especially 
from those who were there or from the vets about what we are seeing here.

I don't want to leap too far without better confirmation of the facts, but if 
these numbers are correct, I think we all need to give this some long 
thought.   We seem to be learning more every day about the physiology and 
exercise metabolism of these horses - could it be that we aren't succeeding 
in making the sport safer for them?    Whadaya all think?
pat farmer