Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Before we try to create a magic pill for everything that could possibly 
happen to a horse I think we need to take a step back and take a closer look 
at what is really happening.
The fact is horses have a relatively short life span. The largest number die 
before age 25. If you are at a ride when it's time to die, they'll die at a 
ride. I remember when a rider I know rode the same horse 10 days out of 14 
at sanctioned AERC rides. that makes your odds 10 to 14 that if they died it 
would be at a ride.
Also, in the past 10 years of AERC sanctioned ride competition, mileage has 
gone from some 400,000 miles to 700,000 plus. This would increase the odds 
substantially of horses dying at rides. I would gamble a wild guess that 
horse deaths have not increased at the same rate. Also, until very recently 
there was not a lot of reporting of horse deaths.
Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't actively pursue the reason's for horses 
crashing at rides and try to prevent it. I just don't think we should 
approach it as some new thing that is just now happening and has increased 
at an alarming rate. I don't believe that is the case, based on the increase 
of competition miles.
Monte Mitts
AERC 5851

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