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Re: [RC] Treatment - heidiThe moral to this story is: Never assume that a horse that needs treating has been "over-ridden." And don't assume that a sick horse is a result of a careless rider or an unfeeling one whose only agenda is winning. Neither was the case in Kunyak's instance. He was simply a horse that gradually became more and more difficult to care for on the trail, because he didn't have the sense to take care of his own needs. Barbara, I agree. And as a ride vet, I've certainly seen such horses. But Kunyak's story points up more questions. One, why would such horses even BE at a championship ride? If horses have such issues, they need to do what Kunyak finally did--find another line of work. So yes, we see horses like this from time to time--but not representing 20% of the entries on a given day. Two, yes, it is right and good to seek treatment in such cases. But again, we are talking about 20% of the entries or so--a phenomenal percentage. Riders from PS have suggested that it is not uncommon to see 5-6 horses in need of treatment at their rides when weather is extreme--but they also commonly have three to six times the number of entries, so the percentage is much lower. Under the ambient conditions, yes, I would expect to need to be ready with the fluids--but not at such a high percentage. The Kunyaks of the sport simply don't represent that high a number. I think we all agree here that riders should not hesitate to seek treatment if it is indicated. But that said, it is my opinion that EVERY time a rider feels the need to seek treatment, there should also be a thoughtful going-over of WHY the horse arrived at the state of being in need of treatment. I've only once had a metabolic pull, and it was back in the dark ages when we were not so quick to treat. In retrospect, my horse would have benefitted from fluids, and had that pull occurred today, I would have sought treatment. But even though he recovered fine without a jug, I still went over every inch of what I did at that ride, and came away with SEVERAL points of rider error that led up to my horse being in that situation. Yes, the ambient conditions that day were terrible--but failure to judge the importance of that was one of my errors. The question that some of us are asking here is whether the event itself is one of the errors. And given statements about the courses at previous NCs, as well as this course, I submit that our NC system IS one of the errors here. It is not the only error, and likely different errors were made with each and every horse. Not all of those errors were overriding--some of the errors likely had to do with things I've mentioned in other posts, but all reflect a lack of preparation by the rider (or a lack of knowledge of the horse's capabilities under given conditions, if you will). None of us is smart enough to know all the answers all the time, and we all make errors. Sometimes we get by with them. Sometimes we do not. But when such a high percentage of errors happen at any given ride, I think we have to look for common denominators at the ride that would cause otherwise fairly knowledgeable riders to make a variety of errors. (And please don't take this as a criticism of the riders--it is not. It is simply a matter of trying to get to the heart of the problem.) 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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