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[RC] My endurance horse died in a pasture accident - k s swigartA number of years ago (7 1/2 to be more precise), my endurance horse was running around in his paddock with his son, slipped and fell going around a corner, rolled over to get up and hit his leg on a fence post. Broke his leg. He was 13 years old. When I had my vet out, and we had to put him down. One of the things my vet said was, "I'll be honest with you, I didn't expect this horse to die this way. If he were going to die prematurely, I would have expected him to die while at a ride." It was that statement from him that helps me to understand that horses die all the time from all kinds of things (my horse died "because" I turned him out to play with his son????). This obsession that so many people here have with fatality rates and horses dying at endurance rides is the WRONG thing to be focusing on with respect to welfare of endurance horses. The question to ask is not "does doing endurance kill horses?" because the answer to that is "probably not any more than just being horses does." But rather the question to ask is, "Does being an endurance horse reduce the quality of life of the horse?" As far as I am concerned, the problem with flat track horse racing is not that a handfull of horses break down on the track and have to be euthanized. The problem is that most of them finish their racing careers before they are even full grown and spend the rest of their lives (20+ years?) battling some form of chronic lameness. I am, from a horse welfare standpoint, far more concerned about horses being abused, neglected, mistreated, over used to the point of chronic discomfort than I am about a few that may die "prematurely." My horse died prematurely in a pasture accident. He died while playing and having fun. The question to ask ourselves as endurance riders if we are concerned about the welfare of endurance horses is: Is this fun for the horse? And: Will his life continue to be fun even after I have stopped playing at endurance with him? Is this going to kill him is a virtually irrelevant question. kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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