There should be NO additional penalty for a pulled horse

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


I have read with interest the assortment of posts with regards to using the "Australian System" of tracking a horse/rider's 
performance through multiple endurance rides, with the idea
that riders whose horses are pulled too much during competition
should be limited or banned from participating.

I think this is a really BAD idea.

I am of mixed opinions about whether horses should have "log
books" so that the competition history is available to ride vets
at endurance rides.  Vets can certainly make better informed 
decisions if they have more information about the history of 
the horse, and this would be a good thing.  However, vets can
get this information by quizzing the rider; or riders can provide
it if they have some concern.  At the same time, the logistics 
and administrative difficulties associated with getting it 
right are probably enough for me to say that the limited benefits
aren't worth it.

But even if it were instituted, rules making it so that you can't
start if you have X number of pulls in the last X months/years, 
is not something that I can think of in any positive light.

The reasons for pulling a horse from competition are myriad and
riders should be ENCOURAGED to remove their horses from the 
competition, to share their concerns with ride vets so the vets
can help to make the best decision for this horse on this day,
and to stop in the middle if they just don't feel like going on.

There is already the "punishment" of not getting a completion (which
keeps many people riding their horses when they probably
shouldn't).  One of the things that I am constantly telling new 
riders that I have encouraged to try endurance is, "There is
NOTHING WRONG with not finishing."

To put it as Julie Suhr did when I interviewed her for an article
I wrote about Tevis and asked her what advice she would give to
a person contemplating their first ride, "Dare to risk failure;
and even if you only make it to the first vet stop, you will have
learned so much."

We should NOT be penailizing people for stopping before the end.
Doing so (more than is already done) cannot be in the best interests
of the horse.

kat
Orange County, Calif.