Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

Re: [RC] [AERC-Members] Protecting Our Horses, Protecting Our Sport - Stagg Newman

Bob,

Agree we need to do more causitive analysis. The stress of the sport increase the probability that underlying problems will cause the need
for serious treatment or even death.

So we need more facts so we can select the ride horses, train them properly, prepare them properly for the ride, and ride them with care.

For example most people would agree that a horse with a severe gait abnormality is likely not suited for the sport. Are horses with certain histories (e.g. parasite damange, anhydroisis, ulcers, ...) predisposed to problems and therefore perhaps not suitable for the sport or not?

Here we need to define the information needed and then develop ways to get it and analyze it.

Thanks for the input.

Stagg

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 08:34:09 -0600
 "Bob Morris" <bobmorris@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Stagg:

I agree with the preponderance of your questioning but there
is a primary factor missing.

Why do these endurance horses die? This, the causative
factor, is never revealed to the general membership. Sure
there is the statement the horse coliced and went down. The
horse was treated but died or was euthanized. BUT WHY DID
THE HORSE ENCOUNTER THIS SITUATION! Colic is a
generalization mostly mis-understood.

The analysis produced by the Vet Committee in reviewing the
past fatalities has proven that the horse is dead but WHY
the horse is dead is unexplained in almost every case. Was a
pre-existing condition a contributing factor? Things like
parasite infestations when young? Was a physical condition
pre-existing? After all, the horses are seldom given an
extensive physical prior to competition.

Most every one concentrates on the actual ride as the
causative factor when pre-ride conditions may be a strong
contributing point. We need to stop being emotional and get
positive about investigation and discovery. That is if
riders are sincere about the subject. Sorry to say I do not
find a preponderance of riders showing anything but token
concern in order to not be criticized.

This subject needs to completely come out of the closet,
mandatory disclosure of all details subsequent to a fatality
whether at the ride or soon after, and accurate
determination of cause. Cost? No more than a new horse to
replace the expired one.

Bob

Bob Morris
Morris Endurance Enterprises
Boise, ID

-----Original Message-----
From: AERCMembersForum-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:AERCMembersForum-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Stagg Newman
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 9:42 PM
To: AERCMembersForum@xxxxxxxxxxxx; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AERC-Members] Protecting Our Horses, Protecting
Our Sport


Question:  How can we better protect our horse.
Response Desired:  Good ideas as part of a brainstorming
session.

Recent incidents together with facts that I was until
  recently unaware of convince me that we need to be far
  more proactive in protecting our horses and sport.
 Facts
  that disturb me are that:

-The horses deaths this year may exceed the number last
year -- and last year was regarded as an anomolous high
year
-Over 15% of the horses at the recent Pan Ams had to be
treated with IVs and one horse died (this is consistent
with performances at other similar competitions in past
year and in my opinion is unacceptable).
-According to a recent post on ride camp, 6 out of the
top
10 life-time mileage riders in our sport have lost
horses
to ride-related deaths. (I have not verified this fact
nor done the statistical analysis of expectations but
even
if this is close to the truth, it is disturbing to me.)

My hypothesis is to protect our horses, we need to:

1. Better understand what is putting our horses at risk
and what are early indicators of problems (please see my
column in EN Sept 2003 entitled "We Just Don't Know")

  2. Better educate riders, who have the primary
  responsibility for the welfare of the horse as well as
  ride managers and ride vets and what can be done to
  prevent problems

3. Develop better procedures to govern our sport.
??Unfortunately there will be people in the sport who
are
unobservant, uncaring, or ignorant. And even caring,
eduated riders may make judgment mistakes in the heat of
competition or when tired late in a ride.

I believe that to take action on the ideas above is the
right thing to do. Moreover in today's society if we do
not take appropriate action, then others less favorable
to
the sport may force action upon us. So the hard job is
deciding what actions are appropriate and will serve the
goals of protecting the horse and protecting the sport
of
endurance riding.

I believe we should start by an electronic brainstorming
session where we get as many ideas out on the table as
possible without being judgmental. We then can do the
critical analysis. I will be happy to catalog the ideas
presented.

For each of these items we need to consider the "what
"and the
"how". For example on education we need to decide what
we
need to teach people and then what the best way to reach
people with the information.

Note that I have assumed we do have a problem that we
need
to address. The folks that I have talked to agree. If
there are others who do not agree, then whether there is
a
problem to be addressed or not probably also deserves
discussion.

Stagg Newman




-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=-
-= Discussion List Archives:
http://www.goldhill.com/members/index.html
=-
-= Subscribe/Unsubscribe: mailto:
AERCMembersForum-moderator@xxxxxxxxxxxx
=-
-= Rules of Usage:
http://www.goldhill.com/members/index.html
=-
-= Terms of Usage & Liability:
http://www.goldhill.com/members/liability.html
=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Replies
RE: [RC] [AERC-Members] Protecting Our Horses, Protecting Our Sport, Bob Morris