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[RC] UCCHR Race Update - paul

At the Central Region Convention this weekend, Dr Leon Self spoke to us about 
the proposed upcoming Endurance race. For those who are not familiar with Dr 
Self, he is one of the most respected  and experienced Vets in the Central 
Region. He was chosen the Vet of The Year yesterday by OCER, our regional 
group. When he speaks, people in our region listen. Here, as accurately as I 
can recall are the points he made about the UCCHR ride.


#1) It will not be AERC sanctioned.

#2) He only agreed to be involved if they would accept his conditions regarding 
the safety of the horses..which they agreed to . 
Among those conditions are that there will be 8 EXPERIENCED Endurance vets 
there. There will be vet checks every 10 miles. Gate and go at 10 miles, hold 
at 20, Gate and go at 30, Hold at 40, then check at finish. He also made sure 
that the ride was be held at a non humid and cooler time of year, and not to 
many steep long hills.  Vets will have the authority to hold any horse they 
want at the G&G  for up to 20 additional minutes if they feel the situation 
warrants this. All horses earning purse money, (top 5) will be tested for 
drugs. The drug policy will be the same as AERC, (zero tolerance) rather than 
like racehorses which allow certain levels of drugs, plus Bute and lasix. The 
P&R people, timers, etc wlll be paid employees rather than volunteers. 

#3) If they don't get 40 entries, they will cancel.

#4) Dr Jim Baldwin will also vet there. 

#5) Dr Self feels we have advanced enough in recognizing and treating horses 
before things get really critical that equine safety is covered at this ride. 
The ration of vets to riders should be 1 to 5.

There was a lot of discussion about other aspects of the ride, but they were 
logistical and more the RM's problem to figure out how to deal with.  For 
instance we estimated that 30 riders would hit the first Gate and Go within a 
minute or two of each other. . Another fun item would be that each riders clock 
would stop when their horse pulsed down and restart when they were released by 
the vet to continue. This protected riders who pulsed down but were caught in a 
line behind other riders. The issue would be that at the finish, the first 
horse across the line may not be the winner, when the time stoppage times are 
figured in.  

Many of us wondered whether there are 40 people in the US who believe they have 
a horse that can outrun 35 of the other top horses in the country. And if those 
40 people are willing to bet $2,500 each plus travel expenses to prove it.

So that is what I recall of his presentation. 

Paul N. Sidio
Spokane MO

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