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Re: [RC] Education - doing something about it - Heidi SmithMelanie, In theory this sounds ok but there are people out there who know horses and endurance but due to circumstances aren't able to attend many rides each year. for LD riders that is how many rides? I have to agree with Patty here. Different people have different learning curves, and different horses have different aptitudes. If a savvy rider gets a good horse, does his homework, gets the horse well-socialized, well-trained, and fit, they may be ready for Top Tens almost "right out of the box." On the other hand, there are people out there with miles in the thousands who are still clueless about horse care. There is no magic number of miles. I do believe that there are people who are not educable. They either don't want to know, or they can't perceive that there is anything missing. We (ride vets, ride managers, and even fellow riders) need to be alert to the danger signs. Lynne's post about keeping a data base is good. I am also convinced that as we move farther and farther from our rural roots as a culture, we will encounter more and more people who have no empathy and no apparent concern for their animals--simply because there is nothing in their background that suggests that there should be. They think that they care--but they lack the necessary tools (almost like a lack in their souls somehow) to really understand that this animal has just done something that could possibly threaten his equilibrium, and that monitoring might be prudent. Heck, humans themselves are rarely pushed to such limits anymore, and if they are (through stress or illness) we tend to "protect" our kids from seeing them in duress, etc. It is almost like some primordial thing has been cut out of our culture. So I think we will be seeing more cases like this, and not less. And we need to learn to see them coming. I do think that one thing to possibly be learned from this incident is that it might behoove ride management to add a line to the ride entry that asks something to the effect of whether you are staying on the grounds with your horse or not, and if not, where can you be reached and who is the person designated to be in charge of your horse in your absence. (It is so ingrained in me as an endurance rider that one stays in a trailer or a camper or a tent right next to one's horse that I get the heebie jeebies going to shows or exhibitions and staying off the grounds. So I suppose that to people who come into endurance from that world, it seems just as strange that one needs to stay with one's horse...) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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