Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Malibu - what I saw

Kirsten Seyferth scatris@xxxxxxxxxxx
After reading some of the posts I'd like to ad my own observations. I don't know Laura Toston personally, neither have I previously obvserved any misbehaviour of her or her juniors with my own eyes, although I'm aware of her reputation. I will keep this as neutral as possible, because I believe that the facts speak for themselves.

Last Saturday, I was one of the volunteers who were doing PNR at the finish line for the 25 milers. When Laura arrived with her juniors, the kids got off their horses about 15 feet from the water troughs and called for PNR. We asked the first 2 girls whether they didn't want to take the horses over to the water, and they replied that the horses had drank out on the trail. Laura stayed in the background and just waited. As mentioned already, this was an extremely hot day, so I asked again, but the girl closest to me didn't want to waist any time, so I attempted to take her horses pulse. It was way over 100. One of the other PNR people tried another horse - similar result, so we told the whole group that we wouldn't do any more "courtesy checks" until they let their horses drink. Only then they walked the few steps over to the water, where all horses drank extensively. We also told them to sponge the horses in order to cool them off. It took about 5 more minutes for the first horse to pulse down to criteria. The girl's horse who I had checked in the beginning needed a lot longer. During the entire time, Laura stayed to the side. When I checked her horses pulse, she was on her cell phone, just stopping her conversation briefly to tell me that she didn't want to be given a finishing time until all her students (as she called them) were done.
About 10-20 minutes after the group had left the PNR area, one of the horses collapsed at the trailer and needed immediate treatment. I didn't walk over, as we were busy with more finishers, but since the trailer was parked close enough, we could see the horse lying on the ground.

So much for what happened. Now my thoughts:
I have been thinking about this incident ever since, because it disturbs me trememdously to have someone sponsoring a whole bunch of juniors in an absolutely irresponsible way. Obviously these kids don't know anything about how to take care of their horse - all they wanted to do was to win. In a sport where the well-being of the animal is paramount, this type of behaviour is unacceptable. Sponsoring juniors does not only mean that you have to get the kid trough the ride, but it also includes a tremendous educational responsability. IMO, anyone who doesn't take this reponsability seriously, should be banned from sponsoring juniors.

Kirsten Seyferth
Topanga, Ca




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