RE: Horses requiring vet care at Tevis

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

I like Susan Garlinghouses' answer to this dilemna: More research.

It is alarming, and I truly believe that the vet's are not taking these
statistics lightly.

This is also the reason that I am not riding Tevis, even though it is my
goal,
until my horse and I are REAL ready.  I've crewed it enough to know....

But as crazy as all of the stuff that happens at the Tevis, I still want
to do it, and get my photo on Cougar Rock!

Kathy





-----Original Message-----
From: Onefarmgirl@aol.com [mailto:Onefarmgirl@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 3:42 PM
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC: Horses requiring vet care at Tevis


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


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=