Ridecamp: [RC] RO

> Thanks, Terre, for a good post on this subject.  You are correct that Sue's
> pull SHOULD have been listed as an L, regardless of who made the choice to
> pull.  Because of my own vetting style (I try very hard to make the rider
> make the choice, even if I will pull the horse if the rider doesn't) almost
> all of my pulls at rides would be listed as RO's if one followed the logic
> of "who made the call."


Thank you right back, Heidi--that was going to be my next point, if anyone 
couldn't see the sense in this.  I posted the following a while ago and got 
NO response--perhaps we are not as concerned with equine welfare as we like 
to think? --in any event, I will post again:

Hi, ridecampers
        Did you all take note of this paragraph in the Aussie 'letter to 
the WEG':
"The FEI should insist that all NFs that want to be affiliated with the FEI 
have a suitable Rider Qualification Procedure and Horse Welfare monitoring 
system, and that this be maintained and subject to ad hoc inspection by the 
FEI." ?

        "Horse Welfare Monitoring System", eh? (sorry, I'm Canadian).
        Do you all think that we are in compliance with this concept?
        AERC (BOD/Vet Committee) has been trying for some years to 
implement something of this nature; there have been various problems 
implementing the rider survey forms, veterinary report forms, etc--but the 
attempt is being made. The biggest obstacle? Us, the riders.
        We all like to brag about how concerned we are about horse 
welfare, how much we want to protect the horses from (other people's!) 
abuse, etc. But time and again, we see posts or hear reports from people 
who would move heaven and earth to get their pull listed as RO rather than 
M or L. Various riders, some of them extremely experienced and respected 
competitors, have openly reported that horses they have ridden have had 
metabolic problems (crashes, thumps, tie-ups etc)--these are the people who 
are both honest, and confident enough in themselves to risk the response of 
the public. Some riders have been, frankly, attacked in print when they 
posted similar reports.
        But until we--and I mean you and I, brothers and sisters!--are 
willing to be 'up front' about problems experienced by our horses, any 
claim to a 'horse welfare monitoring system' is a joke.   We need to: 
honestly report to the ride vets any problems we perceive, and allow them 
to be accurately reported in the results (even if the decision to pull is 
the rider's).
        We need to: be up front with the ride vets about problems our 
horses have experienced in training--especially colics and tie-ups. If such 
disclosure causes the vets to pull us, then maybe that is what has to happen.
        The BOD/Vet committee is, I understand, trying to lay out a 
framework for following up on horses treated at rides, and also for 
establishing a forum where riders can report problems that occur within a 
few days of a ride. We need to be energetic and accurate about responding 
to these queries!
        It is my belief that for every equine fatality (at home or in FEI) 
there are many "near misses". Until we can analyse the factors that 
contribute to these less-serious 'failures', we will never be able to 
prevent disasters--only wring our hands in sorrow and cast blame liberally 
around
after the event.
        I know what you're thinking--that "new riders", that "abusive 
riders", that "other people" won't report their problems honestly, so why 
should you? But in this life, you can never control what "other people" 
do--you can only control yourself. So how many of us are ready to do what it
REALLY takes to protect our horses?

Terre O'Brennan (AERC #2548)



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