Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Pacing at Vetting alowed?

This all depends on quite a bit. I rode a walking horse for almost 2000 miles. 
She would had a lot more exept she had to retire to be mommy a couple times.
I've ridden  her in several regions and she completed the ROC. 

In the SE region where we live, the vets here are used to gaited horses.
The SE is the "home" of many gaited breeds - they are called "Tennessee"
walking horses after all. The paso is quite common and we see a lot of them
at rides. 

I did happen on a vet one time who told me up front he had more trouble with
watching gaited horses than trotting horses. This is one of the best endurance
vets in the country, but he just happens to live in an area where he doens't
see many gaited horses. However, he was right up front with it and we worked
together to determine if she was having a problem. She had slipped into a
washout area and I wanted some expert opinion so I could decided if I was
going to call it a day or go on. 

We both watched her "trot" and he told me what he saw and I told him what
I saw. Neither of us liked what we saw, however, but she was not really lame
and if there was 10 miles left I would have gone on.  But I had 70 to go.
The vet was in full agreement with this and I pulled.

I firmly believe that if you have a gaited horse and work with the vets they
will work with you. Excpet for a few areas, they don't see to many of them
and they may not pick up on the subtle things they would pick up on a trotting
horse. That all being said, with the one excpetion noted above, all the vets
I have ridden under who I consider to be the top vets, will have absolutely
no problem determining what is a normal sound gait for a gaited horse vs.
when the horse is having problems. 

Truman

Bob & Amber Roberts wrote:
>  >It shouldn't be a problem...but make sure you get the right
> vet!  LOL  I ride 
>  >a Standardbred and at one ride she got straight A's all through - except
> for 
>  >one vet at the midway point who said she looked "a little odd" at the
> trot.  
>  >Several people tried to point out that she was a Standardbred and so 
> her trot 
>  >was very different from the 100 or so Arabs he had been watching all 
> day.  
>  ...  It 
>  >SHOULD be okay, but being "different" can have its drawbacks!  
>  
>  
>  Yes, it can be a problem.  I had a Fox Trotter/Arab cross that I competed
> on in NATRC and Endurance.  Had to explain his different gait to every vet. 
> It got to be a real nuisance and I was constantly worried about it.
>