re: RC: Biltmore Blues

[JOHNP@ANRI.barc.usda.gov]

Obviously some people have their mind set, but others may think out of 
the box and see some sense in these rules.  Heart rate monitors are not 
infallible, nor necessarily the same from horse to horse, manufacturer to 
manufacturer.  It depends on how they are put on or positioned, how much 
hair, how well the contacts work, and an erroneous reading on a resting 
horse is going to be low.  If there were a chance it were going to be 
high, you'd never be agruing to use it.  It is not real time, it is an 
average, which in fact may not be to your advantage if the pulse is 
dropping.  But I doubt this is the reason for the rule.  First, you 
should not be entering P&R until your horse's pulse is down.  If it is 
down you do not need a monitor, and it gets in the way of the pulse 
taker.  Second, IMO, it is not the PULSE TAKER looking at the reading 
that is the problem, it is you!  If you see a reading on your electronic 
device that disagrees even slightly with the pulse taker, you are going 
to waste everyone's time agruing and trying to influence the pulse taker, 
hopefully to no avail, because the stethoscope is the most fair and 
accurate instrument.  If monitors cannot be used in the P&R area, there 
is no disagreement.  This isn't so important at an AERC ride, where the 
ride manager is going to tell you to move along, but at an FEI ride they 
have a ground jury that must take all complaints seriously.  It's fair to 
all to leave them off inside P&R.  I heard no complaints about the 
quality of P&R at Biltmore, and I doubt you will at any FEI ride.

It's true that the need for security at Biltmore is minimal, no one is 
likely to steal or doctor someone's horse.  There will be no fire where 
there is no stable.  But the same regulations apply to the $! million 
Grand Prix jumper stabled in Belgium and the horses that will be 
competing for a $100,000 purse in reigning.  We had international riders 
competing at Biltmore, and just like a McDonald's in France may be 
expected to resemble a McDonald's in Georgia, all FEI riders should be 
able to expect international rides to follow the same rules and things to 
work recognizably the same. You don't have to eat at McDonald's if you 
don't want to.  You didn't enter FEI, you didn't have to surrender your 
coggins papers until your horse was released by the vets, or park you 
trailer within the control area.  Maybe next time you'll park closer than 
the FEI riders, it all washes out over the long run.

>It's a minor point, but I resented not being able to use my
>heartbelt.....the argument that someone made about "not everybody being
>able to afford one" is stupid.  If you can pay to enter FEI rides, you
>certainly can afford a simple heart monitor...and maybe that SHOULD be a
>valid indicator of a horse's pulse...it's real time and certainly more
>accurate than a stethoscope. Just tell your pulse takers "Don't look at
>it!" Maybe I could cover it with duct tape?
>
>This "having control of FEI horses so we put them all in the same area
>is idiocy". I wonder if Biltmore FEI stewards put out picket lines and
>"guarded" the horses all night? Hmmmm...probably not...it was pretty
>quiet.