Re: RC: Dance Line

[David LeBlanc <dleblanc@mindspring.com>]

At 09:02 AM 3/23/00, Liz Newfield wrote:

>>I have no opinion about what happened to Howard because I was not there
>and I do not know him but before you write posts like this one, you better
>make darn sure that nothing bad ever happens to one of your horses and you
>can't do that.  

Amen.

>I recently had an experience not very different from Howard's.  I was
>fortunate that my horse didn't get as sick but it did take him several days
>to recover.  He is a 9 year old horse that is well condiditioned.  About 3
>miles of easy riding up a road that he has traveled many times he had a
>major tie up, had to be rescued with a trailer (I count my blessings that
>he was accessable) and rushed to the vet for treatment.  Why?  We don't
>know, though there are certainly enough theories.  Sometimes it just happens.

Mine wasn't metabolic - my beloved old Skipper bowed a tendon at Hahira.
We went to jump a small ditch (not my idea - I hate to jump), he lost his
footing on the push up in the sand, and we came down short on the other
side.  He recovered in a few months, but died of old age when he was still
in Georgia, and I'd moved up to WA - I never got to ride him again.  I hate
the fact my last ride on him was painful for both of us, and I miss the old
boy so much.  I really don't know whether this happened because I was
overriding him and he was too tired, or whether stuff happens.  Heart rate
monitor said he was in good shape when it happened, so I don't know.
Feeling him slip, the fear as we went into the jump, and the horrible jolt
when he came down hard and slammed me on top of him haunts me.  Still
didn't stop me from kicking myself to this day with a hundred things I
should have done differently if I were only omniscient enough to have
forseen this disaster.  We just have to do the best we can at the time.


David LeBlanc
dleblanc@mindspring.com