 |
[RC] [Guest] Adios research - Ridecamp ModeratorShelley Bridges shelleybridges@xxxxxxx Dear Ridecamp, I am a concerned rider, who would like to add a few insights into this latest "research " on horse's deaths. I want to first state that I am a "professional " endurance trainer, I have a BS degree in Animal science from UC Davis, I have over 5000+ competitive miles, I live in the Central Region, and I have traveled to other Regions to compete.(The East coast and West coast both) I have had numerous horses compete in the last 3 Pan American Championships. I do not want to appear snobby, I want to give you my background. There are 2 things I would like to stress to some of the newer endurance riders, who seem puzzled by the latest stories on the ridecamp. 1) Horses have "insincts" that we speak about all the time. Remember the "herding instinct" that makes the horse want to run and keep up with the front runners? The "fight or flight instinct"? Here is another instinct we sometimes forget about.: Horses do not always show when they do not feel well. Their instinct is to not show the predators that they are sick or they would quickly become PREY. This means that on an endurance ride, horses are not always going to show you something is wrong until very late in the game. A subtle change would be something like NOT EATING in the first vet check or not drinking. 2) We are ultimately responsible for our horse's wellfare. We can not lay blame on the veternarians, who are there to help us. We put our horses in the situation in the first place! If we start to blame the vets for the loss of our horses, then we will end up with vets who will be too scared to help treat our horses. Think about it? Any one, can feel free to look up my ride history. I had 2 metabolic pulls on my horse Windswift Pharrah in out of Region areas, in cooler weather. I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to take extra caution with my "Hot-weather" horse in these mountainous, cooler regions. I found ,by drawing blood, that after a long haul (over 8 hours) my horses were starting their rides already dehydrated. I also found, by blood work, that my horses did not drink as well in cooler weather. When my hot-weather horses went into cooler regions they did not drink as well. Even if I electrolyted them every 2 to 3 hrs. the day before the ride. I have had the best results when I tubed the horses with fluids and electrolytes as soon as I arrived at the ride site. EX: Top Ten finish at Pan Am 2001, after 41/2days in the trailer. I also have found that making my first loop during the race, my slowest loop. I feel this causes the horse to "warm-up" and start drinking sooner. I then pick up my pace on the 2nd half of the race. EX: Pan Am 2001, Biltmore 2002, and several Tevis finishes on 3 different horses. If you start to look at the paces of some of the treated horses at Pan Am 2003 , you will see many of them were going up to 17+ miles per hour on the first loop. I am not an expert and do not claim to be. I am simply someone who puts my horse's welfare first, over the win, or the money, and wants to be the BEST HORSEWOMAN I can be. I will never be a National Champion, and I will never win a Pan Am but I will never be callous to my horse or my sport. I simply hope to ride my horse to the best of his/her ability. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|