Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Actually Heidi is right on the money on this. Too much baggage comes 
with pulls - too many egos riding on it. It should not have anything to 
do with anyone working together except you and your horse. It should 
have nothing to do with "reevaluation." Face it folks most of us  know 
when our horses are a little off - why do we need the vets to point it 
out?  Many a time in a previous life, when I returned from a "mission" I 
always announced that "I cheated death one more time."  Must have been 
good at it to live this long, eh ;-).

A pull for a horse is no more than a "bad hair day" for the horse.  It 
should not be a stigma and it is not for the horse - only for the 
rider's ego. He could really give a rat's behind that he got to stop 
early and eat full time. If it isn't right to go on it isn't right to go 
on, conversation over. I've lost track of the times the "vet though I 
was crazy to pull." Know what, it's my horse - not the vets - and I 
don't really care if the vet thinks I'm crazy. And as I walk him back to 
the pen I pat him on the neck and say, "old boy, you cheated death one 
more time today."  He butts me with his head and demands a carrot.

Know what we're out there going down the trail the next week.

Truman

McGann, Barb wrote:

> Heidi -
>
> Thank you for this....I've always felt that pulls should not be seen as failures, but rather astute riders and vets working together to make sure the horses are safe.  I've hated the "stygma" type attitude seen here on ride camp, as in "you only have an XXX completion rate".  I wonder how many horses have been pushed beyond their capability, not to win, but just to avoid a pull.
>
> Not to say that pulls are not significant...I am always relieved when I pull my horse early and they then feel great that evening or the next day, but every pull then makes me back up and say, OK, what am I doing wrong or is this horse really cut out for endurance.  In themselves, pulls can be a chance to reevaluate what you're doing, but shouldn't be an embarassment.  
>
> Barb McGann
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Heidi Smith
> Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2003 9:37 AM
> To: steph@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; rides2far@xxxxxxxx
> Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [RC] another proposal
>
> We need to quit thinking of pulls as failures, and instead think of any pull
> that returns a healthy horse to the trail at a later date as a Good Pull.
>
> Heidi
>
>
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