Re: [RC] Overridden and Fit to Continue - Heidi Smith
>Long way around
but sometimes you know better and should talk to the vets....they are there to
help and are not the enemy. What am I supposed to do when the only vet at
the check is one I sponsored as a junior??????
Maryben, Dot, and others are right that
endurance is a small world, and it is impossible many times NOT to be dealing
with a vet you know. Likewise, as a ride vet who has done a lot of
rides, it is impossible not to vet RIDERS you know--and know well! But
part of professionalism is to be able to be objective
anyway.
I can still remember doing a CTR two years in a
row under a vet who was a personal friend and who really admired my
horse. I got a well-earned Championship under this vet the first year, but
the second year my horse was not near as fit. About halfway through the
ride, the vet just calmly stated to me after he had rattled off the appropriate
numbers to the vet secretary that "Gee, he sure isn't as fit as he was last
year, is he?" Nor did I earn the placing I had earned the year
before. This objectivity is the norm among ride vets rather than the
exception, IMO.
