I would hate to see e’lytes and the vets given a bad name, when
there are other factors that probably had a lot more to do with it than the
e-lytes and the condition the vets tired to remedy. This was a very fast race for the
course.This course was toughened
slightly from last year’s FEI ride. The winning time was 2 hours +/- faster than
last year.Adios was near the front
when he came into King and running at 17.5kph +/-.This is at a course record pace and is
faster than it appears this horse has ever done a hundred before and only done
two fifties that fast.The 61 miles
to King are the toughest part of the course, with a 1000’ of climb in the
first loop, the same in the second loop, with a lot of difficult single track.Everybody in the top thirty riders were going fast for this tough course.That is the nature of championships and
horses that have experience with speed tend to be more successful.
Secondly, the temperature part was sneaky.The ride started in a cool morning and
the first two loops are in the trees. The third loop into King is an exposed SW
exposure, in places.It is a
deceivingly open area loop and the temperatures rose in that loop considerably, it may have been as much as twenty-five
degrees. A lot of horses were
stressed coming into King.
It is very unfortunate what happen to Adios and I feel very sad for
Darlyn ( and my thoughts are with her), but I hope the
lesson is not that e’lytes are bad or to lose confidence in our treatment
vets.Dan Frazer in the FEI pre-ride
predicted by statistics, one horse will die at the Championship. Unfortunately he was right.He was begging riders to take care of
their horses, and not to lose sight that the horses are more important than the
championship.
