Ridecamp: [RC] Jerez - a few thoughts

I'm signing off for now, the next two days are travel. It's been wonderful.
I watched the show jumping and reining today. Amazing performances...
amazing horses.

About the Endurance event - maybe because of the rain, and the terrible
conditions, it seemed more difficult this year. It just looked hard out
there. The US finished a team and are thrilled about that, but they didn't
do as well as anticipated. Steve Rojek made a comment yesterday that really
summed it up. They rode hard and fast in the morning, held back a little in
the middle, and couldn't make it up at the end. They rode conservatively
during the middle of the ride because of the US pulls and their desire to
finish the remaining three, and in anticipation for a strong finish in the
last part of the course. But - the trail had degenerated so much, they were
slogging through knee deep mud, they simply couldn't pick up the pace, even
though their horses were very strong. So ... a entirely different race - and
the strategy that works so well in most rides came to a halt. Strong horses,
but impossible trail.

The horse deaths - this is the big media topic. Everybody is buzzing about
it. Autopsies were done, and the cause for death was 'metabolic failure'.
Now the questions will be - were the horses sufficiently qualified? Is 100
miles simply too far? Should there be shorter loops? Longer holds? More
frequent holds? The vetting criteria was very strict, and if you look back
at the statistics, neither of the horses took very long to recover - well
within the normal range. One horse died after completion, the other got into
trouble while out on the course. What aren't we doing as vets and officials
to catch these problems before they go so far? This is the first time I'm
aware of that there was an official press release regarding horse deaths at
a WEC. And the first time that the media - all events, not just endurance -
has been involved to this extent.

Lots of issues still in our sport - the vetting standards do not seem to be
entirely consistent at this level either. 'Fit to continue' is a judgement
call. Whenever judgement is required, there are different views, different
opinions.

Oh, well - lots to think about. Can't wait to get back home and ride!

Steph



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