RE: RE: Re: Re: Getting Pulled

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

My parting shot before I go off and have fun for the weekend.

I was pulled at 44 miles on my first 50 attempt last year for lameness.  I
could barely see the lameness, but maybe it's because my horse has a "gait
abnormality" anyway.  I was too tired to argue with the vet, I was just as
happy to be trailered home.  The volunteers at the ride told me they thought
my horse wasn't lame enough to be pulled - he wasn't even head bobbing.
Other riders were totally ticked off at the same vet because she was trying
to pull their horses at the pre-vet - but they would go on to ride in place
top 10.  The vet may have been over cautious - I really felt that I could
have finished the last 6 miles despite my tiredness.  (Occasionally I would
get mad at the vet, thinking about it retrospectively!!!  When I'm in a
pouty child mode.)

But I did learn a lot about the whole experience.  Mainly that I wasn't
ready or physically fit for a 50 for that week - I had spent the whole week
before at my desk and not conditioning myself or my horse.  Mental attitude
means a lot to both horse and rider.  And I started really looking at my
guy's persistent gait abnormality as a red flag to resolve for future rides
because there will always be another "vet from hell" (just kidding, you vets
on RideCamp - I know that the horse's welfare is #1 with you - as it should
be).

So I have a lameness on his record and I didn't finish.  "To Finish is to
Win".   Did I feel like I "lost" instead?  NO.  I did my best, I learned a
lot, and it hasn't stopped me from wanting to do a ride again.

By the way, my friend Karla attempted her first ride as a 50 miler on a
19-year-old Morgan.  She has fibromyalgia and has a pacemaker.  Her horse
was pulled for "thumps" at around 34 miles.  It was the first hot day this
season (and Karla was venting that she would only ride during the winter)
but she bucked up and emailed us a long list of the things that she learned
on the ride, with the guidance of the very competent ride vet.  And she will
ride again this summer. The mare was in great shape - Karla would do 25
miles as a normal training ride at a fast trot consistently.  So Karla clips
her mare the following week, reads up on thumps and eliminates alfalfa from
her diet.  I know Karla will have a completion some day. I am totally
impressed that she would try to do endurance with all the phyiscal stuff
stacked against her.

Pulls are disappointing, but hopefully we all learn from them and strategize
accordingly!!!!  I just hope that I learned the lesson well enough so I can
complete my first 50 soon.  It may mean riding another horse instead, but I
think that I am pretty close to getting Beau together to complete.  And
that's all I want for now.

See ya!  Gotta go and get some sleep because tommorrow's a long horsey day.

Kathy