Ridecamp: [RC] Your Ride History/Pulls

>     I have to agree with Frank.  The heroes (and heroines) of this 
> sport are the ones without the egos involved in the horse or rider pull
rate,  namely our horses.

I don't understand how that has anything to do with whether a pull rate
matters.  If a person who wants lots of miles can start every ride
without pulls showing up on their record, I think they'd be more likely
to start a ride when their horse is questionable. How does that help the
"silent heros" of our sport?  I'm not talking about any person in
particular here...strictly hypothetical situation.

Now that we've added the pull codes there's a new twist, and more room
for ride managers to give their friends a little help.  Someone told me
the vets weren't happy with so many horses being listed as "rider
option".  They wanted "rider option" to mean the RIDER needed to stop,
nothing more.

  So...last week at Kentucky there were lots of pulls.  This is the first
time I've seen a manager do this, and it probably only happened because
he was inexperienced and didn't realize nobody ever does this...but he
read off all the pulls and the reason at the ride meeting.  My daughter's
horse had passed his vet check and was cleared to go but we felt lameness
and pulled him.  It was listed as "lameness" not rider option.  A good
friend's horse was having trouble meeting pulse criteria.  He did not run
out of his 30 minutes to get the pulse down but he and the vet discussed
it and he chose to pull himself without trying to make the deadline (the
horse did come down within 30 min). He was listed as a metabolic pull not
rider option.  Another friend quit because *she* the rider, was in pain. 
That was listed as rider option.  From what I understand, that's the way
the vets want it done.  I can see that the data will be more valuable if
managers *all* record it that way.  Granted, my daughter and friend
weren't pulled, they pulled themselves but the reasons really were
metabolic and lameness.  Now...are managers in other regions going to do
it like this, or will the Southeast get labeled as having far more
metabolic and lameness problems while other regions have more rider
option?

The stigma you describe is self inflicted.  Data is only one part of an
equation...but it's helpful.  I think you can look up my record and you'd
probably say you wouldn't mind selling a horse you liked to me.  I did
have one year and one horse where I got pulled at about 5 rides for
lameness (never took a lame step at home and never made it to a 1st check
without one) , but when you look at the whole picture and all the other
horses I've ridden, the picture is of a fairly conservative rider.  If
you look up someone else and they have 4 wins and 4 metabolic pulls, that
tells you something. 

In my opinion, the greatest defense our horses have against our getting
carried away and over riding them is peer pressure.  Putting that data
out there keeps us accountable.  It's useless if it's not honest.

Angie

________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

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