Re: RC Three important questions to think about

["Michelle Fink" <michrowe@frontier.net>]

> 2.  When/or if your overtired gelding collapses and
> falls off the trail, do you treat him with bute or
> Banamine without a vets opinion?

What is the correct answer to this?  I was at a recent group ride, our group
split in two, and in the group I was not in, one person's tired horse fell
100 feet off the side of the trail.  The horse was badly scraped up.  They
managed to get the horse on its feet and it fell another 50 feet down the
hill.  By then, the horse's jaw was broken and I guess the horse was looking
really bad.  They elected to put the horse down right there.  I have
wondered if giving him bute or banamine and maybe an IV and leaving him to
recover overnight would have given him a chance to get out of there, get the
jaw fixed, and survive.  After hearing the Tevis story this year, it made me
wonder if perhaps they overreacted.

m
(Colorado)