Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

RE: [RC] [Guest] Adios research - David LeBlanc

No comment on most of it, but the faster horses were running 17 _kilometers_
per hour, not 17 _miles_ per hour. 17 kph is about 10.5 MPH. Still fast (for
that course), but not incredibly so.


-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Ridecamp Moderator
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 10:13 AM
To: guest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shelley Bridges shelleybridges@xxxxxxx
Dear Ridecamp,

I am a concerned rider, who would like to add a few insights 
into this latest "research " on horse's deaths.

I want to first state that I am a "professional " endurance 
trainer, I have a BS degree in Animal science from UC Davis, 
I have over 5000+ competitive miles, I live in the Central 
Region, and I have traveled to other Regions to compete.(The 
East coast and West coast both)
  I have had numerous horses compete in the last 3 Pan 
American Championships. I do not want to appear snobby, I 
want to give you my background.

There are 2 things I would like to stress to some of the 
newer endurance riders, who seem puzzled by the latest 
stories on the ridecamp.
    1)  Horses have "insincts" that we speak about all the 
time.  Remember the "herding instinct" that makes the horse 
want to run and keep up with the front runners?
The "fight or flight instinct"?
Here is another instinct we sometimes forget about.: Horses 
do not always show when they do  not feel well.  Their 
instinct is to not show the predators that they are sick or 
they would quickly become PREY.
This means that on an endurance ride, horses are not always 
going to show you something is wrong until very late in the 
game. A subtle change would be something like NOT EATING in 
the first vet check or not drinking.

2)  We are ultimately responsible for our horse's wellfare.  
We can not lay blame on the veternarians, who are there to 
help us.  We put our horses in the situation in the first 
place!  If we start to blame the vets for the loss of our 
horses, then we will end up with vets who will be too scared 
to help treat our  horses.  Think about it?

Any one, can feel free to look up my ride history.

I had 2 metabolic pulls on my horse Windswift Pharrah in out 
of Region areas, in cooler weather.  I figured out pretty 
quickly that I needed to take extra caution with my 
"Hot-weather" horse in these mountainous, cooler regions.

I found ,by drawing blood, that after a long haul (over 8 
hours) my horses were starting their rides already 
dehydrated.  I also found, by blood work, that my horses did 
not drink as well in cooler weather.
When my hot-weather horses went into cooler regions they did 
not drink as well.  Even if I electrolyted them every 2 to 3 
hrs. the day before the ride.

I have had the best results when I tubed the horses with 
fluids and electrolytes as soon as I arrived at the ride 
site.  EX: Top Ten finish at Pan Am 2001, after 41/2days in 
the trailer.
I also have found that making my first loop during the race, 
my slowest loop.  I feel this causes the horse to "warm-up" 
and start drinking sooner.  I then pick up my pace on the 2nd 
half of the race.
EX: Pan Am 2001, Biltmore 2002, and several Tevis finishes on 
3 different horses.

If you start to look at the paces of some of the treated 
horses at Pan Am 2003 , you will see many of them were going 
up to 17+ miles per hour on the first loop.
I am not an expert and do not claim to be.  I am simply 
someone who puts my horse's welfare first, over the win, or 
the money, and wants to be the BEST HORSEWOMAN  I can be. I 
will never be a National Champion, and I will never win a Pan 
Am but I will never be callous to my horse or my sport.  I 
simply hope to ride my horse to the best of his/her ability.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-