P&R vet chek treatment

[guest@endurance.net]

margie margie@ffww.com
Well I'm going to stick my neck out again on Ridecamp, but after this
weekend I feel it is warranted.

My friend and I, for the last 10 years for me and more for her, have been
volunteering at an Endurance ride in our own backyard. We have both ridden
many rides and feel it is a way to give back to a sport we truly love.

After this weekend we may both, I am sorry to say, not do this anymore.

We are selected to follow the top riders and do their P&R's. Over the
years we have found that it works best having fast, competent people who
know the sport doing the top riders. The Pulse and Respiration was set at
60 with no inversion. We checked the first  3 riders and there was no
problem with their horses. They meet criteria on pulse and respiration
then the other riders came in. I can't tell you how many of them came to
us with their horses obviously inverted. They not only asked me to check
their heart rate with their horses inverted, but insisted that it didn't
matter. They would stick their heart rate monitor over top of my watch so
that you couldn't see the watch to get the 15 seconds. This was to show me
their horse was "down". (We are always told to check by watch and
stethoscope.) One rider at the 4th vet check came in and said "Oh no! Not
you two again".

Two or three horses respirations were hanging and took 15 mins at each
stop for the horses to reach criteria, but at each stop each of these
riders insisted that their horses were down and ready for their time. At
one point these people were so rude to my friend and I, I got upset and
wanted to leave but she talked me out of going.

Now I know I probably need to get a tougher skin and not let these people
get to me but if one more person said to me "My horse is a panter" My
answer is SO WHAT!
The reason your horse is panting is the point here, isn't it. I didn't
hear the vets say at the ride meeting "60 with no inversion, except if
your horse is a panter". Perhaps the reason your horse is panting is the
problem, not the fact that we check the respiration. Could it be
conditioning? or the ability of this particular horse? or .... over
riding!?

I showed 2 riders an accupressure point that immediately showed results on
each horse and they met criteria and were given their time. I never
received a thank you.  Each and every rider was treated with the same
criteria at each check that my friend and I were at. There were no
exception to the set criteria.

One person kept telling us "This is the only ride that checks
respirations".

Is this true?? I don't ride my horse into vet checks in this condition so
perhaps I don't know!  The Ride Vet set the criteria. We went back to him
many times and he reiterated NO INVERSION.

Do riders not understand what inversion means???

P&R people are there only to keep the horses healthy. This ride is known
for being tough, hot, and we have had to treat horses in the past. This
year we had no horses treated.

It's been suggested that a horse brought to a P & R person which was one
beat over criteria with pulse or respiration
resulted in an additional 10-minute hold.  That might be excessive, and
puts the P&R volunteers in an already sticky situation. I sure hope that
doesn't become necessary, but it is certainly an option.

My friend and I are there on our time off, to have fun, and give back to a
sport we love. We feel that if there were no volunteers there would be no
sport. After a week of racing home, marking trails at night in the dark,
taking time off unpaid from our jobs and letting our horses go unridden,
it wasn't the kind of treatment I thought we deserved or were expecting.

Fortunately most of the riders are kind and greatful for our help, but
perhaps these other riders need to get off their horses and do some
volunteering to the sport that has given them so much!!!

Just a note to let off some steam. Thanks

Margie