RE: Re: Tevis (long)

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

Woooahhhh, baby..........
I've heard of "arena" people doing this ride a lark.  These are the people
that should be educated. Competitive trail and recreational packers at least
have a clue (I think!).  Even so, as stated before - it is a tough ride
for even the most experienced horse and rider combo.

Maybe a good solution is to require that people who don't have endurance
experience to volunteer for the day at one of the vet checks.  Sometimes
seeing it yourself is worth a thousand words!  Sure made an impression on
me!

Kathy (at least I don't mind putting my name on the message!)





-----Original Message-----
From: guest@endurance.net [mailto:guest@endurance.net]
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 9:42 PM
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC: Re: Tevis (long)


Completed Tevis as a novice on a novice horse ajack2many
I have been reading the ridecamp archives on the Tevis for the past few
days and cannot keep quiet any longer.  Why is it that there is always a
small number of members in any group that believe that more restrictions
on participants will resolve an undesirable situation.  I am referring
to the notion of having to qualify for the Tevis Cup.  One of the most
refreshing aspects of the Western States Ride is that it IS open to
anyone!  You do not have to be an endurance rider to participate.  I
know that many competitive trail riders have completed with success and
so have other equestrians that do NOT have a "competitive" distance
backround.  In my opinion, it takes an equestrian with "good horse
sense" which includes good judgement and good horsemanship plus a little
luck to complete the ride.  There are several "pleasure" riders that may
never attend an endurance ride that fit this description.  Think of the
riders who may "pack" with their animals on trails very similar to th!
e Western States...their experience with a pack string may be much more
useful on a ride like this than the typical endurance rider.  There are
trail riders I know that have animals that are more than capable of
handling the trail and the distance and yet they have never competed in
an endurance event.  I would love to know if all the horses treated this
year how many belonged to experienced endurance riders and how many were
novice or non endurance riders.  Unfortunately, there will always be
horses whose riders get them into trouble (whether intentional or not) -
In events as demanding as this horses will be treated - Qualifying at a
previous ride will NOT prevent this - I have read on more than one
occasion about the number of horses treated at International FEI events
- all of those horses and riders have probably qualified at several
rides before being chosen/invited to compete. I think that the Western
States Trail Foundation gives a great description of the demands and !
difficulties of the event in its handbook - I bet most entrants ta
ery seriously...if not there wouldn't be so many people pulling their
entries at the last minute. The vets at the ride do a great job on
trying to weed out horses with potential problems early in the ride.  In
my opinion riders/competitors need to accept full responsibility for the
condition of their animal (I get so tired of hearing about the elusive
stone bruise that caused the lameness or the lame excuses for metabolic
problems)and admit that they over rode or did not read their animal
correctly and take steps so the problem does not occur again.
Observers, non riders and other competitiors should not jump to the
conclusion that "more rules and restrictions" will keep horses from
being treated.  In my opinion, it will only cause some riders to try to
hide their animal's problem from the vet until it becomes too serious to
hide.  How many times have we walked by a horse being treated and made
the snide comment or thought "So & so thrashed their horse"  This type
of attitude!
 is not any more beneficial to the sport than the person who overrode
the animal.  Thanks for letting me vent and I'll go back to "lurking"


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