Re: RC: what IS rider option?

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/29/00 2:40:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
firedancefarms@prodigy.net writes:

<< Until a "cut and dry" definition is made of the three catagories, data is
 inaccurate.
 I just managed a big ride and we had a time with the catagories.  Some
 people believe unless the vet "forces"you to pull, it is RO.  Others believe
 a "not quite right" is a metabolic.  And how about the riders who just never
 came back?  For a ride manager, who teeter-totters on not putting on a ride
 "ever again" ( and there are more of us than you think!) I sure don't want
 more  complaints...it is easier for a RM to just put RO.  That way no one is
 mad, and all goes "well". >>

Well, RO IS pretty cut and dried--it means that the horse is fine but the 
rider can't or does not wish to go on.  OT is also pretty cut and 
dried--means the rider didn't get in until the time had expired.  L and M are 
often easy to separate, but not always--an early tie-up for instance.  But 
lacking field lab capabilities, one has to rely on the vet's experience to 
separate out the "iffy" ones--it isn't up to the RM to make that call.  How 
much more "cut and dried" do you need it to be?  

Heidi