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Re: [RC] [RC] [Guest] Adios - Ridecamp Moderator - KimFue

"I feel that many of the horses were over ridden at the PAC. The terrain was difficult, the elevations were high, the temperatures were extreme. As a result, I saw approximately half of the horses pulled because of lameness or metabolic failures. In my opinion, many, many horses were in extreme danger of death due to metabolic failure."

I write this post with no disrespect to the author but I find statements like this rather irresponsible when posted to a public list.  Instead of "many" let's talk exact numbers....many could be 2 to one person  or 25 to another person. What does the author consider many?...five horses on IVs....20 horses on IVs?    If "many, many, horses were in extreme danger of death....failure" why is this the first time since the PAC we are hearing about this? If so many horses were in "danger of death" this event should be considered a failure for the sport of endurance riding but I have read nothing on the PAC that would indicate this! The way this post was written, many of our best horse/rider teams participated in the PAC and I find it hard to believe that so many horses were "over ridden" and in danger of death.  What is the opinion of others that were at the PAC?  I realize that the post I am writing about is one person's opinion but so many times someone's opinion becomes "fact" especially when posting on  internet lists.

I believe that at many high profile events (and even some smaller events) where horses are known to have traveled long distances  some of the metabolically compromised horses are put on IVs to help them recover more quickly and easily.  I don't think there is anything more disturbing then seeing a horse that is metabolically compromised hooked to IVs but it doesn't always mean that the horse is close to death.  I think we need to be very careful when we are posting about such emotionally charged issues.