I just recently had my first "Rider Option" at a very hot ride that I pulled on as I was nauseated from the heat, and my horse hadn't recovered in 15 minutes for me - even though I had 15 more minutes for him to come down. We just weren't having fun due to the heat, so I pulled at 38 miles.
I told the vet about the recovery being slow and that I wasn't happy with my horse taking so long and that I felt sick. So my "Rider Option" became a "Rider Option - Metabolic".
I've overheard recently that when a rider chooses to pull, there has to be a reason put down - either "lame" or "metabolic". Obviously there are people out there whose horses are fine, but they may be sick themselves....I understand that would be a plain old "Rider Option".
But then there's the conversation I overheard about using "Rider Option" to get your horse out of a race when you know he's lame or metabolically compromised....don't show your horse to a vet - just tell them you are done but the horse is fine. This way, the horse's record isn't "tarnished". I think there's a real problem here.
I think that ALL horses should be checked at the end their ride, even if it's before the finish line - especially these "RO's" that are trying to keep their horse's records clean.....this isn't fair to the rest of us honest folk!
