Re: finish criteria.

["C. Eyler" <eyler@mindspring.com>]

Susan Garlinghouse wrote:
> If your horse finished in good shape, then you won't be delayed by more
than a minute or two.  I think that's an okay price
> to pay if it identifies the one or two horses in the crowd that have no
business getting a completion, and potentially need to
> be looked at by the vet ASAP.


I crewed for a horse earlier this year that barely made the finish criteria
within 60 minutes.  This happened not because she was under-conditioned or
because the rider barreled through the 50 mile course.  The mare just
wouldn't eat or drink much of anything until halfway through the ride, and
by then she was in too much deficit.  She made criteria at all the vet
checks during the ride without difficulty, and the rider slowed down (from
middle-of-the-pack to waaay-back-in-the-pack) during the second half of the
ride, but that last leg of the course was just too much for that horse on
that day.

The rider told the vets at the finish check that she was concerned about her
horse, that it had taken the full hour to get her pulse down.  An hour or so
later, when the horse was still not recovering well, one of the vets tubed
her.  And we got a number to call in case she got worse later in the
evening.  Which she did.  Hope I never have to spend another night in a
barn, swapping IV bags as they are used up.  Very scary.

This horse actually got a completion for the ride, which would not have been
the case with a 30 minute cut-off.  You can be sure that the rider is not
happy about, or proud of, that completion.

Cindy