Ridecamp: [RC] Pull codes--and attitudes

	First off, I have no objection to the pull codes being reported but not 
published.  The downside to this is that it deprives other riders of some 
information about the conditions of a ride they may be planning on 
attending, and the rider may never know how their pull was recorded; but 
basically, I don't care whether the reasons for pulls are made public or not.
	It is more important that the reason for the pulls be accurately 
reported.  We are trying to amass statistics on WHY horses 'fail'; given a 
body of data we can begin to dig deeper in an attempt to analyse it.  This 
has led to some discussion of 'bad' data; and pulls recorded wrongly, or 
the severity of the problem not addressed (ie Grade I vs Grade 3 lame).
	
	1) "bad" data--First of all, we are hearing incidents of 'erroneous' pull 
codes (like the rider who was injured, but her horse was given an L).  You 
must realize that while this happens, for every incident of this kind there 
are 100 that are recorded accurately.  So the degree to which this kind of 
this will skew the data is questionable.  The plan is for pulls to be 
'followed up'--this will allow the rider opportunity to correct the bad 
info ("no, the horse wasn't lame, I was!  He didn't need treatment, I did!")
	2)"gradation of problem"--ie grade of lameness, etc.  IMO, it is a BIG 
error to focus on grade of lameness as having ANY significance.  A horse 
can be G3 lame with a stone bruise, or G4 lame with an abscess and be in no 
danger whatsoever.  It can be less than Grade I lame with a suspensory or 
tendon injury and staring in the face of a career ending injury (or even 
life-ending, but that really IS RO).  If my horse is sound, but the vet 
detects heat/swelling in the suspensory, you can bet I'm gonna pull--and I 
have no problem with calling it L, and I don't care who knows it!  Which 
brings me to:
	3)attitude.  People are getting way too bent out of shape over this 
issue.  Maryanne is right--we are taking ourselves too seriously!  Guess 
what--mostly, nobody else cares why you pulled!  I will agree it would 
irritating to see an L or M after your name if the pull was for some other 
reason; but other than the problem with skewing the statistics as above, 
why do you really care so much?  A 'blot' on your horses' record?  I've 
tried discussing this with my horse, and gotten pretty much the same glassy 
stare I get when I try to explain why he should jog the first few miles of 
a ride--as far as I can tell, he doesn't much care.  You complete or you 
don't; you learn from your errors; you come back and try again.  Other 
peoples' opinions (if they even have one) have little or no impact on your 
life!
	Ah, but wait--you say these codes may affect the horse's price if you want 
to sell it?  OK, now we're talking about something else.  If your horse has 
been lame, or had a metabolic problem, and you don't want it reported 
because it will lower his resale value---well, how does that differ from, 
say, selling a tranquilized horse as quiet?  The horse did what he did.  If 
a seller wants to cover up some aspects of his career, well--that's another 
ball game, isn't it?  The horse started the ride.  If he failed to complete 
for any reason other than true RO (rider unable or unwilling to continue 
for non-horse related reason), then any attempt to report it at as 
otherwise amounts to setting the odometer back.

Terre (seem to be copping a few attitudes of my own these days!)


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