Re: RC: Re: Norco RideInjury and NATRC

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Mon, 3 Sep 2001 11:59:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, "Barbara McCrary" <bigcreekranch@cruzio.com> writes:

> There are times when illness strikes the horse of even the most
> careful of riders and not due to any lack of attention to the horse.  It
> seems that when anything goes wrong, the first cry is "Why doesn't AERC do
> something about this?"

AERC DID do something about this.  They ensured that there are veterinarians at events.  And Drs. Beasom and Hewitt were awesome with this mare when disaster struck.  They did the right things, and they did them fast, and odds are the mare will be just fine.  What NO ONE could control was the weather.  The general conditions that day were a temp of 85 and a humidity around 60--getting into the danger zone--but unbeknownst to all of us there until we actually got down to VC3 was the fact that down there in a "hole" by the river along a rock canyon wall, it was 99 degrees with a MUCH higher humidity--WELL into the heat index danger area.  Furthermore (and this is a generality, because I don't personally know the rider involved), this was in a desert region, with many riders unused to riding in such humid conditions, horses not used to such conditions, and horses already hot and fatigued when they hit this particular stretch of trail.  I have NEVER in all my years in this sport s!
een a case like this one--but I 
can't think of circumstances more conducive to causing heat stroke than what there were.  Despite that, riders for the most part were able to shift gears sufficiently to get through it, and many learned a lot about how to crew their horses in high humidity--water on, water off!  I don't think we will ever succeed in regulating the weather by making rules, and all things considered, horses got through this in acceptable condition for the most part.  And even though I don't personally know the rider of this horse, I gathered that she is experienced, and that she was taking it relatively easy at this ride, relative to the mare's capabilities and previous level of performance.  It was just her bad luck for her mare to have an "off" day when the circumstances were extraordinarily taxing.

Yes, it is unpleasant and worrisome to see ANY horse suffering--but endurance rides as a whole are a pleasant relief from a great many veterinary practices, where one constantly deals with colics, traumas, and all sorts of horrific and painful situations.  What I find so refreshing about endurance is that as a whole the horses are extradorinarily fit and healthy, and go about what they do with eagerness and verve--FAR more so than the average horses that one sees in the daily course of things...

Heidi