Re: "it's not over after the completion VC:"
Been there, experienced that too. (Kashmir a couple of
times coliced about 3-4 hours after getting a (darn fine)
completion.) I've also always looked at the trailer exit at home as a
big clue to how my mount's feeling.
Reading your occasional email to RC, Ms.
Suhr, reminds me why I loved your book so much. You are a wonderful writer, and you have such a wealth of experience
to share--thank you for sharing some of it with us!
I would be interested in a veterinarian commenting
on the horses that pass a post ride vet check with low pulse rates who get
into serious trouble without a raise in pulse rate later on. In my experience,
relying on a HRM to tell you your horse is okay is courting disaster. I
am so paranoid about my horse's condition (learned the hard way) that I will
not go to post ride award dinner unless it happens to be within a hundred feet
of my trailer. I am much too busy watching my horse. Julie Suhr P.S. On
arrival home I have a system that tells me how my horse is feeling. We
park the trailer a ways from the barn. To get to the barn, my
horse must go down a slight slope of about 150 feet, then level for about 50
feet, then fairly steep uphill for about 300 feet. When I take the
halter off at the trailer and give them a swat and they run the whole distance
full tilt while announcing to the world and their best friends that they are
back in town, I know they are okay and I can go to bed. If they saunter,
I sleep in the barn, with a guilty conscience.
