Every year that I have gone to Tevis, (once to ride, three other times to crew and watch) I have seen horses on IV's. One of the horse's that I was crewing for wound up on an IV, and I don't believe the rider rode at an unusual pace, and she said the horse drank. But it tied up after the trot out at Robinson, very quickly and suddenly. The vets are very aggressive in fluid resuscitation, and although I would be mortified if my horse wound up on an IV, I think sometimes they are being very aggressive medically as advocates for the horse's safety. We are like that in the human hospital, we pound IV fluids into people if we think they are septic, better to be safe than sorry. Last year when I was riding, one of the riders I noticed was tailing on Squaw. He was the first person I saw tailing in the ride. I noticed that his horse was too heavy in my opinion, and the rider looked heavy, but he must have been in pretty good shape to be tailing up Squaw. Obviously he was trying to help the horse. That horse was later on an IV at Foresthill. I don't know what occured after I left the rider, but I had mentally picked him as one who may not make it. But the point is, the man was really trying to do the right things, it just wasn't enough on that particular day. Beth