Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> > "Can this horse safely make it to the next
> checkpoint, even if the
> > rider does NOT ride smart?"
> Seems to me that a horse is either "fit to continue"
> or is not.  
>      A vet should not have to count on the stars all
> lining up just right, 
> the earth not opening up and swallowing all the
> riders or whether all the 
> nailheads on a shoe will keep the horse's shoes on
> on the next "leg"...."yes, 
> the horse can go"...or "no, this horse is done."


A person could start out with all A's at the pre-ride
check and push the horse so hard that it hurts itself
before the first vet check as well.  You have to leave
some judgement to the riders.  After all, they know
the horse best.  (but I'm certainly not saying that
the I would contradict the vet's professional opinion
either).  I know my horse is just as much my family as
my husband.  (She's been in the picture longer than he
has.)  I would never do anything that I thought might
hurt her.   I think most people really care about
their horses and would take that extra step to go
slower, more cautious, etc.  But, there are always
going to be those few out there who don't care, no
matter what the rules are!

And at times, I think there are some horses that
improve (to better scores than what they were at the
pre-ride check) toward the end of the ride.  
I know my horse had some kind of spot on her hoof -
she caught it on something.  It wasn't bad.  The vet
told me to be careful and watch it.  She was kind of
sore at the pre-ride vet in.  At the end of the ride,
she wasn't sore at all.  Must have been something she
had done in the trailer???  But I was cautious, and I
asked the vets to check that spot just to make sure it
was OK.

There was even a ride that I pulled my horse because I
didn't think she was doing OK.  The vets could not
find anything metabolically wrong with her and she was
not lame.  I just felt better pulling her than
continuing because I didn't feel like she was behaving
normally.  Maybe she was fine, I just felt like if I
pulled her, I wasn't taking a risk of jeapordizing her
health.


--- DVeritas@xxxxxxx wrote:
> In a message dated 2/17/2003 8:36:01 AM Mountain
> Standard Time, 
> heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>
> > "Can this horse safely make it to the next
> checkpoint, even if the
> > rider does NOT ride smart?"
> Seems to me that a horse is either "fit to continue"
> or is not.  
>      A vet should not have to count on the stars all
> lining up just right, 
> the earth not opening up and swallowing all the
> riders or whether all the 
> nailheads on a shoe will keep the horse's shoes on
> on the next "leg"...."yes, 
> the horse can go"...or "no, this horse is done."
>     Many of us would find it impossible to load a
> horse in a trailer and hit 
> the road to a ride if we start speculating on what
> "might" happen "down the 
> road."
>     Prepare and give it a reasonable try....that's
> about it.
>     That's not to say, that a vet, should he/she
> want to proffer, "I think 
> your horse is a bit tired and it's still pretty hot
> out there, so ride smart 
> and you should be okay," or something of the sort,
> that's probably okay, and 
> most folks would welcome a bit of knowledgeable
> encouragement of that sort.
>    ---Frank

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