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Re: [RC] They all only go on "with qualifications" - MagnumsmomTruman wrote: [...] The question boils down to can a vet favor one rider over another in giving a break, i.e. allowing them to go on for a completion, when he wouldn't give another the same break? [...] Yes. I'd say yes, given the example you made. Funny, I know, coming from someone who is convinced this should never happen. But you are right, there is a reason Endurance is set up the way it is. Vets CAN trust some people who have, over the years, proven to all they are trustworthy. That is totally different from trusting a first time rider or even a rider the vet has just never seen before... as happened at NASTR. (BTW, that was just a little while ago, not 20 years ago... ) The line I forgot to ad (in my flu haze here) from the story Maryben told me so long ago was this: That vet said they'd never trust a rider to walk a horse in again, they'd just go ahead and pull the horse. But yes, I think that if the rider has a long and valued history in endurance riding that is well known and trustworthy, then yes, the vets do have the ability to trust them... that rider has earned it. I have stories running through my head of all the mistakes and things I could have and should have done differently in CA, some I learned, some I had no idea until they happened (Blue's saddle no longer fitting him at the SASO III ride for instance... it was fine the year before, fine in training, but not fine the next March for 50 miles... :-P ) In CA, I knew a lot of the vets and we sqeaked Magnum through his second 50 (He probably COULD have done more). Then I moved to NM and did the one ride I've made it to last April. I told the vets (who had never seen either of us before) that Blue had several hundred miles, that I had bought him from Jackie Bumgardner with great endurance experience and training, and that I had a few hundred miles to my credit as well. Did they believe that I knew what I was doing? Nope. Did I expect them to? Nope. We came into the lunch check running a bit faster than I was thinking (given that Blue and I hadn't done any AERC rides for 18 months). Blue was ready, but we didn't have any 50's under our belt. At that first lunch check he came in faster than I expected and with gut sounds of "C". ACK!!! (Blue eats like a pig and always has good gut sounds) The vet asked me how he was doing... I told her we were running faster than I'd been expecting. She told me about his diminished gut sounds and asked me how he'd been eating the night before. Well, he ate 3 flakes of hay in the trailer on the ride down. He had a bran mash when we got there and sucked down several gallons of water and then attacked the next 3 flakes of hay. He ate another mash after the ride meeting, and ate all 4 flakes of hay overnight. He drank several more gallons of water overnight. He got another mash 2 hours before the ride start and started on his next 2 flakes of hay. He got a mash just before we saddled up. He had another mash and 2 flakes waiting for him at that stop... right over there by the truck. Did she believe me? Nope. She waited until I went to pee and then walked over to my friend and crew, Leslie, and asked her how Blue had been eating. Leslie told her the same... only she added that all the munching, slobbering, and crunching had kept her up ALL NIGHT! Blue had gone through is mash and was attacking the alfalfa... She rechecked Blue, gave him an A+ on gut sounds and permission to leave the check. She didn't know me from Peggy Flemming (except I'm not as pretty as Peggy) and she wanted to make sure the horse was OK. What did I think? I think the vets in NM are great! Can you imagine taking such an interest in my horse that she would bother to check on him and talk to my crew? In this case we earned our right to continue. But had Blue's gut sounds remained diminished, we would have and should have been pulled. On the other hand, a different rider who is well known on a horse who is well known given the same parameters may have been trusted to leave the check on the condition to SLOW DOWN. But only if the vets know and trust the horse and rider who has earned that trust. Kathy Myers in Santa Fe, NM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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