I just wanted to throw in another bit of food for thought, for novices and
experts alike, with respect to the trouble you can get into out on the trail
. A few years ago I was doing a very difficult ride, on a piece of trail
that was several miles from a vet check and literally impossible to get a
trailer into. The only way to get a vet in would have been on foot.
I was leading my mare down an incredibly steep piece of trail. She was
taking occasional bites of grass, completely unconcerned, when she stopped
to urinate. She urinated what appeared to me to be pure blood. Of course I
was nearly hysterical but took stock of the situation: I was on the side of
a mountain with no where to go but down, she did not appear to be stressed
or tying up, so I continued on down the mountain. Some riders caught up and
passed us and she nearly went ballistic trying to catch up. I finally got
on her and decided to walk into the vet check, as she still seemed
unconcerned and clearly wanted to get on down the trail.
We finally hit the vet check, where she urinated again, still bloody. Her
pulse was in the low 40's and she had good gut sounds, capillary refill, etc