Re: [RC] [AERC-Members] AERA Fatalities - Doing Much Better than AERC - Heidi Smith
>I have always believed some of the toughest, best built Arabians ended
up down (can I use those two words like that?) in Australian. I love
'em.
Furthermore, until the show bug hit just recently, the Aussies have done a
creditable job of continuing to breed their horses along the same philosophies
of usefulness that the founder breeders did--and the show bug has so far only
"infected" a minority of them, as several continue to breed specifically for
endurance and other ridden endeavors.
On another note--a poster on a small private list made a comment that
sparked a connection to me... Horses who are not in trouble tend to fly
through vet checks with relative ease, having no difficulty in meeting
veterinary criteria, but the riders who habitually have problems are often
observed working their fannies off "crewing" their horses to meet pulses,
walking around in circles to prevent stiffness, etc. While I have
intuitively observed this as a ride vet, and have always taken the need for such
efforts as a rider as an indication to wait longer, or slow down, or pull, I had
never quite articulated the correlation verbally. This is a good point to
include in educational efforts--if the horse REQUIRES efforts on your part to
pass the veterinary exam, then there should be bells and sirens going off in
your mind as to his ability to continue down the trail, at least at the same
rate or in the same fashion that one has BEEN going. THIS is the beginning
indication that the horse IS being overridden, EVEN IF YOU PASS THE VET!!
This goes hand-in-hand with the concept of exit checks, where one can check
for progressive recovery and where reduction or absence of gut sounds has much
more relevance than it does when one comes steaming in fresh off the
trail. I know that ONE thing the Aussies do is ascertain that horses have
dropped their pulses considerably below the pulse criterion before continuing
on, and that the failure to do so raises a big neon red flag...
