Notes/Email - September 14,15
Photos
Miscellaneous pictures at final inspection
Final Veterinary Inspection: US Squad Trot-outs
Final Veterinary Inspection: US Squad Trot-outs
Crystals Charm (Red) |
Ali Darkness |
Regalidon
|
Shadon |
Catch A Wave |
Finally |
Notes/Email
Final Inspection and Trot-out was today. All the USA horses passed, and looked great!
The course is quite flat and will a lot of hard packed dirt road. The soil here is primarily clay/adobe and the trails/roads have been used for 100's of years, so they are pretty hard. There's also a fair amount of dirt canal roads and fields with decent footing, may be dusty though. The course description also includes a fair
amount of 'rubble' - rock. I don't know about elevation gain overall - there
are rolling hills, but minor. The OC decided yesterday to take out the one
'real' hill, which went up and around an old castle. Apparently this was the
most scenic part of the course, but also the only real hill. Rain is
possibly in the forcast so I guess this was a safety measure, as the surface
here gets very slick when wet. But everybody protested the change - they
wanted to keep 'the hill'. To no avail!
Pulse criteria is 64, all four veterinary checkpoints will have 40 minute holds, all will be in camp.
The trot-out vetting today was very organized and efficient. Better than any I've seen
to date. One vet at each gate. If there was any question, a committee of
vets was called over, the horse was trotted again, and the vets wrote their
decision on a piece of paper and handed it to the vet gate. No discussion,
just a 'secret' vote. Very fair I think as each vet was able to cast their
vote w/o peer pressure.
Vetting tomorrow will be similar. Two opportunities to meet pulse, if not
down at the second presentation, horse is out. I'm not sure what system
they're using for pulses though - if it will be electronic, with the pulse
for all to see, or just each individual vet with a stethoscope. The horse
will have two chances for trot out. If a repeat is asked for, the committee
will watch as it is trotted again, and then vote. That's it. Can't go back
and do new shoes, or whatever, and then present again. One shot.
I'll be working with a few others tomorrow to keep stats on all of the riders (all countries) for the US. I'll be calling in to John periodically so he can post the status to the web, and to Ridecamp. Should be fun! The horses and riders are ready, and eager to get started.
Steph
