Ridecamp: [RC] speeds at the WEG

I would like to give a clearer picture of what happened at the WEG 
regarding the deaths of two horses.  These were not front runners 
being "raced for glory".   In fact they were riding quite close to two 
of our US riders and never exceeded 10 mph on any loop.  I looked 
at their recovery times and they were quite average with the rest of 
the field.  We must have seen these horses in the crewing area but 
it was never obvious that any horse looked in trouble.  At hold three 
and four the horses had to pass an exit exam, which these horses 
did.  Just imagine how those vets felt after passing a horse that 
died shortly later.  Dr. Beecher went to the wrap up meeting after 
the ride and found the entire veterinary commission very disturbed 
about what happened.  These were all foriegn vets and they took 
what happened very seriously.  
  Perhaps what we should take from Dr. Fraziers letter is the point 
that despite truly concerned veterinarians who did their very best to 
protect the horse, what we asked of them was still too much.  
What the vets wanted was more opportunities to check the horses 
and this was denied.  Where the idea that shorter holds and fewer 
holds makes for a better ride I do not know, but it is my hope that 
this will never happen again and that the vet commission will have a 
greater voice in competitions from now on.
John and Sue Greenall
mailto:greenall@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.vermontel.com/~greenall

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