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< forwarded from Michele Roush >
>>

>  AERC National Championships with an International Flair
>
> John and Steph Teeter put on a super show at the AERC Championships  
> this weekend, and I was very happy to be able to attend. There were  
> some very good horses and riders competing against each other, and  
> having an FEI ride along with the AERC ride gave the entire weekend  
> even more prestige and flair. We were honored to have had the  
> opportunity to host quite a number of international participants,  
> including a group from Malaysia, who will be helping to put on the  
> next World Championships, several vets and FEI officials and one  
> rider from South Africa. I was thrilled to be able to ride with her  
> for the 55 miler, and I learned a great deal about how endurance is  
> done in another part of the world.
> In addition to bringing people from all over the world together,  
> the FEI influence on the ride brought us a more level playing  
> field. The first tenet of FEI is to ensure the welfare of the  
> horse. The second is to ensure a level playing field for all  
> participants. This weekend, simple procedures like having the  
> veterinarians take pulses, rather than having volunteers do it,  
> made the ride more fair for everyone, AERC and FEI riders alike.  
> The pulse time was recorded when a horse went in through the vet  
> gate to see the veterinarians, before the heartrate was ever taken.  
> This is very different from the standard AERC ride, where the  
> riders have to wait for their pulse time to be recorded until after  
> a P&R volunteer can be located and the heartrate can be counted.  
> The way it was done at the Championships ensured that if two horses  
> presented for P&R at the same time, they would have the same pulse  
> time. It took away any possibility that the pulse time for a horse  
> would depend upon the availability and skill of any P&R volunteer.  
> I know we have all at one time or another waited to have a horse’s  
> pulse taken because of a lack of people able to do the job. The FEI  
> system completely erased any possibility of that happening. I  
> really like the fact that the dual sanctioning allowed an overall  
> increase in the quality of the event, and I hope that we can  
> continue to learn from one another.

> Thank you Steph, John, and all the many people who made it a success.

> Respectfully submitted, Michele Roush DVM


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