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Re: [RC] Adios/Metabolic failures@ PAC - Heidi SmithIf you take two simple concepts - "fit to continue" and the AERC drug rule which bands "any invasive procedure" and IV's are invasive as is a stomach tube - this says to me that if a horse has to have IV's after the ride he is not fit to continue. If you must say he's got his completion now "lets go hook him up," they are "not fit to continue." Certainly the horse MUST pass the final vet check in order to get completion. But there does have to be a point where the completion is awarded, and if something manifests after that, it no longer affects the completion. AERC rules define that point as being the time when the horse passes the veterinary exam. (And further, the veterinary exam has to be passed within one hour of crossing the finish line.) If we don't have an end point defined, one could argue that the horse that crashes the next day was not "fit to continue"--or the next week, or whatever. So although the end point as defined is not perhaps perfect, there still has to be a time where we say OK, this horse has passed, and from here on out, what happens is not a part of the ride. So--if the horse has passed, and the rider thinks he wants a "faster recovery"--I personally think that is not in the best interests of the horse, but that's within the rider's perogative. He's no longer under the control of the ride. And secondly, if something manifests after that time, it is too late to go back and pull the horse's completion. If you think we need a later end-point for completion, Truman, float it past the rules committee and the vet committee. While the current one isn't perfect, IMO it is the best we're going to do. Even if we say that the horse can't be medicated within an hour, there are too many good reasons why that won't work--the horse that has passed his check and then hangs a leg over the rope back at the trailer, etc. I think the rule we have comes as close to the intent as we can come while being fair to all. And if you check, most of those horses on jugs didn't get completions anyway. While I don't want to demean the importance of checking into why horses get to the point that they need to be treated, I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill in worrying about the odd one that gets completion and ends up on a jug later. They already ARE "few and far between," as you say they should be. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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