Re: [RC] Sue and Heidi how much beet pulp the day of the ride? - Heidi Smith
>Heidi...
Do you think that this may be a sign of
a horse that has ulcers? With the added stress of traveling and the
tension building on ride day maybe aggravating the ulcers enough that he may not
feel like eating hay? I think I would check this as a
possibility before I eliminated the horse entirely.
It is certainly a possibility, and one well worth
looking into. But then if he does, one also has to ask, WHY does this
particular horse have ulcers? If there is no particular risk factor that
one can identify that would have caused this horse to have ulcers (not stalled,
good diet, no NSAIDs, no illnesses, etc.), then the next question one has to ask
one's self is whether the ulcer is due to the horse being stressed by being
asked to do something for which he is not well suited--and we are right back to
the same point of wondering if perhaps this sport is not this horse's cup of
tea.
In recent years, I've come to the conclusion more
and more often that we are frequently asking horses to do this sport that simply
are not suited to it. And it is one thing to participate in a limited way
simply because one happens to like the horse, wants to ride, etc.--but something
else entirely to work and work and work to micromanage such a horse to get him
to a higher and higher level of participation. I think there should come a
point of "reality check" where one backs off and says, OK, this horse can
comfortably do 3 or 4 50's a year, at a moderate pace, but more than that causes
him to go past his comfort zone. And some of the extreme effort that goes
into micromanaging unsuitable horses would perhaps be better spent in selecting
horses with more aptitude for the sport in the first place. Conditioning
and miles under saddle will improve any horse. Just as basic dressage will
improve any horse. But just as one has to be realistic about a dressage
horse that can't make it past training level because he is built wrong or
doesn't have the mental "wiring" to do so, one also has to be realistic about
horses that do not have the physical or metabolic aptitude to go beyond
basic fitness and an occasional completion on an occasional ride. To use a
human example, my own stubby little body benefits from a certain level
of activity, and I am healthier for it. But no amount of conditioning
would EVER turn me into, say, Lew Hollander--no matter how hard I tried.
And I would likely injure myself if I tried too hard to do so.
