Re: RC: Taking care of yourself (and your horse)

[Farafix@aol.com]

I've found it is quite possible for the horse to deteriorate on the last legs 
of a ride, especially if it's hot & if you pick up the pace, even just a 
little.  I'll get thru the first legs with all A's, and then push a little on 
the 3rd or 4th leg, figuring all those A's mean my horse has lots of gas, and 
then get some B's on the next vet check.
Which vet you get can also make a difference as some are harder graders than 
others.  If you can get the same vet as you go thru the ride it's nice as 
they've seen the horse earlier and you get used to their grading system.  But 
usually you don't have that luxury.  
It still gets back to the fact that you know your horse best & the primary 
responsibility for taking care of your horse (& you!!), is you (perhaps 
someone can rephrase that more elegantly!).
You are to be congratulated for pulling the horse youself --- I'd rather do 
the pulling than have the vets do it.  You will have a horse for the next 
ride, whereas if you had continued, you might have been out a horse for 
several months.

Hope you enjoy many miles with your horse,

Nancy 
Md


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=