Re: RC: RE: "In foal" and competing

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/11/99 3:05:43 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Farafix writes:

<< Here in the mid-Atlantic region the weather can get really hot & humid.  I 
was probably overly paranoid, but Kadance was not a 50 mile horse back then, 
& I had another horse to compete with that made the decision to not compete 
Kadance easy. >>

I would concur that since the mare was not already up to competing in 50's at 
that point, you made the right decision.  I was in the opposite circumstance 
with one of my own several years ago.  She was already a very active 
competitor when she was bred.  She ran 18 rides duriing her pregnancy 
(including some 100's), Top Tenned 17, and was Res. Champ. of PNER and Top 25 
in AERC points.  She was a mare who took good care of herself regarding 
eating and drinking, and always had good scores for gut sounds and hydration 
parameters.  Her only problem all year was a stone bruise that sidelined her 
for a couple of additional rides that we had planned to do.  She competed 
into her 8th month, running back-to-back thirds on a 2-day 50-50.  The only 
problem I encountered at that point of pregnancy was having to take a bit 
more time going downhill, as the weight of the fetus was a bit uncomfortable 
in that position and it was more difficult for her to get her rear end under 
her sufficiently.  That was the first weekend we encountered that problem, 
and about all that did was slow us down a bit so that she could pick the most 
comfortable manner to descend.  At that point our season was over anyway, but 
I would say that she was telling me that that was the point to quit 
competing.  I'm sure that point would differ from mare to mare (she was an 
older mare, and also very short-backed, so physically was quite "obviously" 
pregnant at that point--that point occurs at different times for different 
mares).

Heidi


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