 |
Re: [RC] [AERC-Members] Protecting Our Horses, Protecting Our Sport - LSimoni197Truman,You sound like your background is as a numbers man of some sort. Your ideas are interesting and good. The weakness I feel is that horses are flesh. Not all created the same, nor do they have the same perimeters as each other. To complicate the subject even more, each horses perimeters change during its life due to age and conditioning. We can study numbers as much as we like, and that will only help limitedly. We really need excellently trained veterinarians who can look at each horse as an individual on that time of day under those conditions and at that mileage. Most riders will never gain the knowledge that a vet. has. The vet. also needs to be able to question the rider about the horses performance on the trail. That team needs to have the freedom to be flexible making their decisions. Some horses can cover 100 miles in half the time another horse takes, with no harm. I am not for lowering the pulse further, we have already created a sport that is becoming just an Arab field. The person who is the expert on site to protect the horse is the Vet. Lets start a program where new Vets. must work beside old time endurance Vets. to better learn what to look for, most especially the unusual symptoms. Rider education is another very good area to work in. Could AERC Vet committee develop several different sheets which could be handed out to riders at the beginning of each ride. Information such as: Signs of an impending problem which the rider might observe Cold weather suggestions, blanket, cooling, getting the horse to drink Hot weather Humid weather Flat land hard footing, deep footing Steep mountains, and what special needs Special needs and cautions for a 100 mile ride WE are usually given most of this information at the ride meeting by the Vet., but reading it does help some people, or even just the repetition helps others. Lynge
|