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Re: [RC] horse fatalities, 2002 - Heidi SmithGood post, Howeard. I do find it interesting to note, though, that deaths due to metabolic failure are those you suggest are preventable, whereas death due to broken legs/necks from falling off the trail are an accepted hazard. Are some trails just too risky for endurance races? What exactly causes these accidents - are horses stumbling? Spooking? Being run off the trail? Is rider error at fault (failure to keep safe distance between horses, failure to watch where they are going)? Should ride-managers be more careful in planning routes? I ride some pretty hairy trails, and am no coward when it comes to technical riding, but I have never 'fallen off' a trail or seen anyone else do so... it seems to me to be a pretty avoidable hazard - or is it? Not necessarily. Unless you simply have trails with no drops in elevation off of them at all. Consider--bee stings, chukkars flying up under your horse, etc., any of which could cause a horse to panic and lose his footing on an otherwise "safe" trail. My husband and his horse fell off of a trail a few years ago (fortunately no injury to horse and only minor scraped skin to husband) when some silly man in a flapping red poncho came bumping down the hillside above them on his butt, and refused to answer back when my husband tried to strike up conversation so that horse could identify this alien as a human being. (And we are talking a fairly experienced and EXTREMELY agile trail horse here...) So while it behooves management to have trails with reasonable safety, even those can become accident areas given enough provocation from unexpected factors. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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