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Re: [RC] water trough - heidiThis seems to be somewhat of a regional thing. Most Midwest ride managers do not allow drinking from water troughs, on the trail or elsewhere. In the west it is well accepted practice. I personally was involved in a respiratory virus outbreak on a wagon train apparently spread by water troughs. I also remember a thread on ride camp where a mini epidemic was started by shared water on a western ride. Certainly there is an aspect of risk management to this sort of a decision, but one has to be realistic about it. If a horse is not provided with a means to drink, the risk is very high that he will sustain damage, whereas the risk of communicable disease spread is small, although also very real. In our area, management does not want us to sponge from drinking troughs--for good reason, as one doesn't want fly spray, dirt, etc. in the drinking water. But--they also provide sponge buckets that you can dip into the tanks, so that you CAN sponge. The thing that is unrealistic about the drinking buckets is that if a horse is sick, and his bucket is contaminated, that contaminated bucket is STILL being dipped into the community trough, hence the risk of spread of disease is still there. It may be lessened somewhat by the one-more-step approach, but it is not eliminated. And if one is only lessening it by one more step, then it would be equally realistic for ride management to provide a bunch of community buckets to use, eliminating direct nose-to-tank shedding. Then, if riders don't want to risk a community bucket, they can have their crew bring their own buckets (and just risk what might be put in the tank by a contaminated bucket), and for those with no buckets, there is still a means of dipping into the tank to water one's horse. Endurance horses in most areas tend to be pretty healthy. I don't worry about this much except at rides with either horses coming from all over the place, or lots of newbies who aren't as apt to know if their horses are coming down with something. At so many rides, we have to rely on water troughs out on the trail anyway--and I much prefer to take the chance of a respiratory disease than deprive my horse of water on a hot day. And I sure don't want to have to dismount at every single watering spot to dip--I don't mind doing it sometimes, if that is the only means of getting water safely out of a hazardous source when there IS no other source nearby, or that sort of thing. But if the horses are gonna get sick at a ride, they can just as easily get sick because the horse you ride alongside of for 3 or 4 miles sneezes on yours. When we get to the point that every horse has to go down the trail in his sterile bubble because he might catch a germ, I'm hanging up my saddle... Heidi ============================================================ I don't think you have to join a gym or buy frilly outfits to get some fitness. A decent set of shoes and a 15 minute dismount here and there will help. ~ Jon K. Linderman, Ph.D., FACSM, Assistant Professor of Health and Sport Science, University of Dayton ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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