Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Julie,

The thread on treatment of horses really hit home; I've probably learned as
much valuable information from these few posts than from just about anything
else going across Ridecamp. It's something that many people, myself
included, do not want to face. In the past two years I've been pleased by
the progress of the AERC at setting up committees to investigate these
thigns, but is that really enough? And, what about preventing them before
they happen?

I've decided that despite the fact everyone tells me a newbie doesn't need a
HRM I'll have one in the next month, so I'm familiar with it before I go to
my first ride in October. We rode about 15 miles Sunday, longest ride for us
in a little over a year. Star seemed to do fine, but she was still energetic
when we got back to the trailer, I don't feel like I have any way to judge
how well she's really doing. I feel very blessed that I've not hurt Star or
crashed her metabolically, the more I think about how I used to ride the
more I realise how blessed I am.

Realizing that horses die, some of them the rider completely blameless has
been really tough on me. I'm a natural worrier, always worried that the
worst will happen. But, there's no way to completely prevent anyone or
anything from being injured or killed. Another side of that coin is if the
horse enjoys it's job it would be unfair to not allow them to for fear of
getting hurt, quality of life is almost as important to the one living it as
quanitity, that's a question I've had to ask myself lately.

About 6 months ago I strongly considered selling Star. I saw a friend's
horse go down out from under her, they both got injured pretty bad. I
decided I couldn't handle the thought of Star being injured while I was
responsible, but about that time I became ill with a chronic disease,
they've yet to pin point exactly what I have but my Drs. have told me not to
count on living long enough to see my children grow up should I be able to
have kids. I decided then that the *quality* of mine, and those that I have
control of, is the most important, not how long we live, but how much we
enjoy what we are allowed to live. Freak accidents happen, but we're all
going to die somewhere, someday, somehow. As long as we live responsibly we
shouldn't have regrets.

Thank you all for sharing.
Steph


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