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Re: [RC] [AERC-Members] bramhalls mandatory mentor program - Dot WigginsMaybe there is another factor in play here? Are these horses really suited for endurance? I know horses can come back from injuries and do fine, but is there a time to step back and evaluate? Repeated problems are a red flag. Is it fair to expect more than the horse can safely give? Perhaps part of the mentoring program could be help selecting horses? And I'm not talking breed, just SOUND, HEALTHY, SAFE. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Howard Bramhall" <howard9732@xxxxxxx> To: <AERCMembersForum@xxxxxxxxxxxx>; <Kh2o@xxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 10:06 AM Subject: Re: [AERC-Members] bramhalls mandatory mentor program You know I'm going to try and answer Kevin because it is one of the reasons why I won't be the mentor for this program. He's right, I'm not worthy of the position. As far as my rider record goes, if you're counting completions verses pulls, it's abominable. There's a reason for that. For one thing, the horses I purchase are ones that were unwanted by their former owners. Let's just say, I'm not buying anything the Sultans of Swing would want to buy. Even though they might have my phone number they won't be calling anytime soon to purchase any horse I'm riding. I don't want to say my horses arer defective or say anything that sounds like an excuse. Since Kevin is so interested, I'll try and explain what is going on. Ameircan Spirit, my number one horse, has a bow'd tendon. He's had almost a year off since the bow, I took him to Jennings Boogie after that time, and at the first loop he was a Grade one lame. He was off on the leg with the bow. I knew the vet pretty well, had him look at the leg the day before the ride, explained everything I knew about when it happened (not at a ride but during my vacation in the mountains). Even though a grade one will allow you to continue at most rides, I pulled the horse and the vet agreed it was what would be in the best interests of the horse. That paticular pull should say rider option, but, since it was lame I don't care if it counts as a rider option pull or one by the vet. It doesn't really matter if one judges another by completions anyway. My new horse, Awesome, is an Arabian former racehorse. He really is awesome. His problem is a bad back. First horse that I've ever owned with a back problem, and, I'm learning quite a bit about how to try and cope with such a thing. It first cropped up in the mountains (one thing I've learned is taking a Florida horse up to the mountains is not an easy thing to do). I went to Big South Fork with him and we got pulled at the first vet check. In fact, I got pulled two days in a row, on two different horses at Big South Fork. I called it "Ride & Trailer," because that's what I did both days. The vet checks, both days, were away ones. At my last ride at Gator I pulled Awesome after 40 miles. He was showing signs of his back bothering him. We had vetted in and passed the vet check but I knew it was bothering him. I could have probably gotten that completion with 10 miles to go, but, it just wasn't worth it to me. If you want to see a better record of horses I'm involved with feel free to check out my wife's record or my daughters. And, if you decide to go after them publicly because it doesn't meet your standards of what an endurance rider is, I promise to hunt you down like the dog that you are. Now, I'd like to transition to why I'm sticking out my neck like this, taking flack from folks who like to judge a person by their AERC rider record, and being personally attacked time and time again because, "heck, if you can't attack the idea, attack the person." You really don't even have to be an endurance rider to recognize that there might be a problem concerning equine deaths in our sport. My belief, for some of the reasons for the endurance deaths in 2003 (and 2002), is some of those riders just didn't know. They didn't realize they could kill their horse doing this sport. Why? Because we didn't get the word out to them. Or, if we did, we pussy-footed around the topic and they didn't get it like they should have. These riders are right off the trail, heard about the sport, are not a member of AERC, don't get Endurance News and are not on Ridecamp. The rider either skipped the new rider's talk or the talk was not offered at that particular ride. They are out there. And, they just might show up at your next ride. They don't have a mentor or, if they do, their mentor doesn't know either. I feel it's our responsibility to make sure each and everyone of them do know. To provide them with the information that will help avoid their horse becoming a statistic. We need to make this happen. It is our duty to do this. Continue to leave it solely up to the new rider and this will continue to happen. NOt every new rider who shows up to their first ride got there from some expert endurance rider. The program I envision is not a one on one mentor/mentee relationship. It is a class structured, clinic driven course. Everything taught will be proven concepts from endurance veterinarians and seasoned riders who can put their experience into words. I plan on borrowing ideas for this from Susan Garlinghouse, Stagg Newman, Nancy Loving, Valerie Kanavy, Steve Rojak and a host of others who know what is going on. With prior permission, of course. None of it will be written by myself. I have a tendency to drift and fictionalize. This is all way too serious for any of that. If I add anything to the mix, it will be my experience of what happened to me and Dance Line years ago. I have yet to tell that one to an audience but a lot of what I have said at a couple of rides and plan to say at others, if given the chance, is based on that close call with death. In a perfect world, yes, each horse would be totally prepared for what it is about to endure. The thing is, this is not a perfect world. Some of them slip through the cracks and when they do, it's a God awful thing to see. I've seen it twice this ride season so far. And, it's very early in the season. cya, HowardFrom: Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: Kh2o@xxxxxxx CC: howard9732@xxxxxxx, AERCMembersForum@xxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [AERC-Members] bramhalls mandatory mentor program Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 10:52:57 -0500 Jeeze, the personal attacks on this list seem to getting worse than I ever remember on ridecamp and I thought that was one of the things this list was suppose to eliminate. Guess I'll go back to ridecamp where things seem to be a little more civil. Truman Kh2o@xxxxxxx wrote:Howard I was just trying to ask in the most tactful way online how a person like you , with such a deplorable record of completions keeps trying to make rules for AERC. I defy you to find ANYONE with a worse record. Maybe instead of attacking me you could ask how I might help . Kevin_________________________________________________________________ Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee when you click here. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- =- -= Discussion List Archives: http://www.goldhill.com/members/index.html =- -= Subscribe/Unsubscribe: mailto: AERCMembersForum-moderator@xxxxxxxxxxxx =- -= Rules of Usage: http://www.goldhill.com/members/index.html =- -= Terms of Usage & Liability: http://www.goldhill.com/members/liability.html =- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=- ============================================================ The very essence of our sport is doing the trail as quickly as practicable, while keeping one's horse fit to continue. Taking the clock out of the equation makes it another sport altogether. The challenge is how to keep the sport what it is while honing our skills (both as riders and as those in control roles) in detecting where "the edge" is for each horse so that we don't cross it. ~ Heidi Smith ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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