Hi Peter--
I am almost certain that records are not kept at AERC regarding
veterinary treatments given at rides, unless they pertain to a horse
that dies or is euthanized. I think we tend to remember the most
noticeable form of treatment, that of a horse on a jugular catheter
receiving fluids. When we don't see this at a ride, many may assume
that not much treatment is going on. The first round of treatment is
often an IV dose of Banamine or other injectable, and this only takes a
few seconds, may not be noticed by anyone but the vet and a rider or
two, and certainly isn't announced to the entire basecamp. This can
occur at any place along the entire trail course, and a horse trailered
in from a vet stop may have already received treatment, and needs no
more after his return to camp. All permutations exist, which is why I
took exception to conclusions you or Truman had made regarding the
presumed occurrence of treatment you thought was or wasn't going on
from the very limited perspective of a single person's observations.
Susan Garlinghouse supported my opinion in her earlier post. There are
various things going on at various rides of various distances with
various riders of various experience, and horses of various level of
conditioning. I can't say it more clearly than that. :)))
I have noticed that attention is often brought to abuse that may be
occurring to horses at the longer distances, presumably to distract
attention away from the suggestion that horses ridden by inexperienced
riders in LDs should be protected. These are not mutually exclusive
goals. Horses at *all* distances should be protected with prudent,
effective, workable policies. What and how those policies are
implemented requires contemplation by knowledgeable people, and we must
resist the temptation to extrapolate our limited personal observations
into the assumption that what we think we see must be what is going on
everywhere, and therefore is an accurate image of reality. The horse
deserves for us to do our homework. Bruce Weary
