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[RC] Fw: Horse deaths and preventing treatment... - Heidi SmithTried this twice, but will try one more time, since Steph reports that there were problems this morning that are now fixed... I'm with you Art...excet for:least 90 minutes of hold time (3 - 30 minute holds) in a 50 mile ride and 3 hours in a 100 mile ride.PLEASE...just once during a 50 give me a long hold. It's not like =they'regoing to run out of daylight or anything. Let's say 45 min. to an hour =atthe 1/2 way point...if not for the horse for the *rider*! :-)The two aren't mutually exclusive. What's worked best for the most = horses in my hands is a longer mid-ride hold and two shorter holds in between. = I personally dislike holds longer than 15 minutes in the first leg, both = as a rider and as a vet. As a rider, I find my horse does not utilize the = time well that early in the ride (he's still full from having eaten 40# of = hay in the 24 hours pre-ride, so beyond a quick bite of something yummy and = several mouthfuls of hay, he doesn't have much need), and as a vet, I find that = with the horses still somewhat bunched, they tend to feed off of each other = and make the stress worse with a long hold early. By 25 or 30 miles, = they're ready for a good break and will usually settle down and eat well--in = which case 45 minutes is a good hold. I personally don't care for hour holds, provided everything at the vet check is handy, and you don't have to = hike a long way to crew areas--most horses have pretty well eaten their fill in 30-35 minutes and are ready to go again. But I agree with Angie that = half an hour isn't enough at the halfway point, at least. Typical pattern = that I like (barring unusual weather circumstances or unusual obstacles at = checks) is 15 at the first check, 45 at the halfway, and then anywhere from 15 = to 30 at the 3rd check, depending on circumstances. Gives you about the same amount of overall hold time, but IMO allows the horse to utilize the = time much better. Likewise, on 100's, I tend to alternate longer holds with shorter holds, = so that the horse gets regular breaks, but also gets holds where he REALLY = has time to eat. Heidi ------=_NextPart_000_0047_01C2D33E.28F6EF20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.50.4522.1800" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV>> I'm with you Art...excet for:<BR>><BR>> > least 90 = minutes of=20 hold time (3 - 30 minute holds) in a 50 mile<BR>> > ride and = 3<BR>>=20 > hours in a 100 mile ride.<BR>><BR>> PLEASE...just once during = a 50=20 give me a long hold. It's not like they're<BR>> going to run out of = daylight=20 or anything. Let's say 45 min. to an hour at<BR>> the 1/2 way = point...if not=20 for the horse for the *rider*! :-)<BR><BR>The two aren't mutually=20 exclusive. What's worked best for the most horses<BR>in my hands = is a=20 longer mid-ride hold and two shorter holds in between. = I<BR>personally=20 dislike holds longer than 15 minutes in the first leg, both as = a<BR>rider and as=20 a vet. As a rider, I find my horse does not utilize the = time<BR>well that=20 early in the ride (he's still full from having eaten 40# of hay = in<BR>the 24=20 hours pre-ride, so beyond a quick bite of something yummy and=20 several<BR>mouthfuls of hay, he doesn't have much need), and as a vet, I = find=20 that with<BR>the horses still somewhat bunched, they tend to feed off of = each=20 other and<BR>make the stress worse with a long hold early. By 25 = or 30=20 miles, they're<BR>ready for a good break and will usually settle down = and eat=20 well--in which<BR>case 45 minutes is a good hold. I personally = don't care=20 for hour holds,<BR>provided everything at the vet check is handy, and = you don't=20 have to hike a<BR>long way to crew areas--most horses have pretty well = eaten=20 their fill in<BR>30-35 minutes and are ready to go again. But I = agree with=20 Angie that half<BR>an hour isn't enough at the halfway point, at = least. =20 Typical pattern that I<BR>like (barring unusual weather circumstances or = unusual=20 obstacles at checks)<BR>is 15 at the first check, 45 at the halfway, and = then=20 anywhere from 15 to 30<BR>at the 3rd check, depending on = circumstances. =20 Gives you about the same<BR>amount of overall hold time, but IMO allows = the=20 horse to utilize the time<BR>much better.<BR><BR>Likewise, on 100's, I = tend to=20 alternate longer holds with shorter holds, so<BR>that the horse gets = regular=20 breaks, but also gets holds where he REALLY has<BR>time to=20 eat.<BR><BR>Heidi<BR></DIV></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0047_01C2D33E.28F6EF20-- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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