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Okay, I've read enough
and I have I feel compelled to write something.
I'm writing this with the
attitude to help, learn and seek more information and to also try to get it
across to people not to "judge" other riders/horses without completely
knowing facts. Without facts all this talk, especially related to
Tevis is just plain gossip in my opinion.
Until now I have never ever
had a bad experience in a ride. If you look at my record I have not
done a lot of 50 with my horse but not because I couldn't. It was due to
lack of finances, my husbands auto accident which was a two year period, etc
etc. but what I didn't stop doing was training, working, conditioning
my horse, and volunteering at rides to learn learn learn and I've done my
homework. So frankly, JMHO, an outsider not knowing a particular individual
or their horse can never know all the facts unless they know them
personally.
For this reason I will tell my story. And Truman, I'm
sure you are a nice person, but your comments about "horses on IV's at Tevis
sickening you" really hit home for me.
Tevis this year had
extraordinary circumstances. Some of the best riders in the world got
pulled in that ride. And since I was there personally, I saw how these
individuals took excellent care of their horses and DID NOT override them at
all. I saw with my own two eyes.
I also had a horse on an IV. And
it was not due to the ride at all. She had a slight impaction which
I'll explain why later. This was 3 hours after I chose to pull her
myself at Deadwood. She had A's all day with the exception of one
lower grade due to the fact that we had just sponged her off.
She had marks of A's all day, and a B+ overall at Robinson. At
Deadwood where I decided to pull my horse Cira has scores of A/A-s with not
even a B. She ended her ride there with an A- overall, Kudos from the vet
and telling me I took good care of her and she looked great..
So, how
did she end up on an IV at 8pm? We had just gotten back from the
trailer ride from Deadwood. Waited a very pleasant hour for the ride, Cira
and my new friends horse from Montana just ate and drank and relaxed.
Both looking good. Hers got pulled for being ever so slightly
off. We had nursed him to Deadwood very carefully and were
extremely careful in our pacing. Even walking quite a bit. We did not
push to make the cutoffs.
Anyway, back to my horse...Completely
uneventful. My horse was bright eyed, and eager to go if I had
wanted.
so what happened? Got to Foresthill around 7:30..Cira and I
walked around for 15 minutes looking for our trailer and crew. She was
trotting around on her lead feeling pretty good. Took her back to the
trailer. She ate, peed normally, yellow just a little thicker, but
yellow. Happy and pulse around 40. Then, around 8pm my daughter
took her as we were walking tryin to find other crew members who didn't know
I had pulled. 20
Side note: The vet Rob Lydon, told me that
this was a "true Rider Option" as my horse looked great and he wrote that
down on my vet card right in front of me with a smile.
To continue, I
turned to look in another direction and suddenly my daughter said mom!
Cira! Just completely out of the blue, her legs buckled and she wanted
to go down. As I turned to look at her, totally stunned, a vet came
over right away. Ironically, I was only 20 feet from the vet
area.
I took her over immediately and told them what she had done.
Her pulse was only 40 which was normal, but her body had tightened and I saw
what looked like a gas bubble on her right flank. Her gums were pale
but not white. 20
When I decided to administer fluids I noted that
her attitude was again and also that she no longer wanted to buckle or go
down. Her eyes were alert again. And. knowing my horse, if she
is not truly ill she will not let you get a needle near her. If she
really needs help you can do anything to her. She wanted no part of
this.
I chose to put fluids into her anyway just to err on the side of
caution. After about 15 minutes and not even half a bag of fluids she
was better. Her gums were pink and her appetite was horrendous. So the
vets brought over some wet alfalfa. In the meantime I was racking my
brain trying to figure out what was going on. She had taken good care
of herself, I took good care of her, did NOT override her and she never
ever showed any sign of distress of any kind metabolically or physically
during the ride. Then, she passed manure. When I saw her start
to do this I went behind her and there was a what I call a "loaf/or log" of
poop she was trying to elimnate. That was my answer. She had a
slight impaction. The fact that it hit her suddenly was because
due to the exercise it had most likely moved along in her gut to a
point that it suddently couldn't pass without some help. And that's
what the fluids did. Once that passed she was absolutely normal. I had
worked with the vets there and the official vets that were there as well. We
let her finish the bag of fluids which to her was was quite alright.
She was comfortable and looked good. Then she passed some gas.
That had been why.
The vets agreed with me that she was okay and
agreed to release her to me. I asked that I could give her a mash with
a little mineral oil to help in case there was more to pass. They
agreed.20
When I got home she was eating happily and totally
relaxed. I made her mash and she ate it all up. I put her in a stall
just in case, with her buddy Lilli next to her for the night. I had
planned to get up several times and check her but found myself not waking
until 6am after only having 2 hours sleep. I got up immediately at 6
and went out and there she was! Peeking out her window, nickering to
me, bright eyed and fine.
I checked her poop and she did indeed pass two
more "smaller logs" and then the rest was okay. I then took her out for a
walk on our trails to access her attitude. She pulled me up our
trails, nibbled on green grass, said hello to her favorite horsey neighbors,
etc. We came back, she ate 1/2 a watermellon, about a pound of carrots
and took a huge drink and has been normal since. I noticed that
physically she looked totally hydrated and does not look like a horse that
did 56 miles of the most difficult part of Tevis. She looked
great.
My point in all this is please do not judge others on IV's.
One of the guys next to me was a previous Tevis Winner. I found him to
be a very good horseman, who loves his horse very very much. He would
not have chose this. He was very compassionate about his horse.
You could see it on his face.
This is Tevis. People, good
people have bad days. Sometimes days just don't go the way you want
them to. 20
And our beloved horses are so strong, yet so fragile.
And they can fool us even when we are watching them closely like I was mine.
In fact, I drive my friends nuts cause they say I worry too much about my
horses.
The hard part of all this for me is people. My horse is a
beautiful pinto arab. Very visable and very noticable. I saw
people starring and frankly I felt it was unkind. Here I was, I had
worked hard conditioning my horse, loving her, riding her as smartly as I
could and an impaction occurs and I'm trying to help her. People sneer
at this? Come on...She had eaten and drank very very well thru this
ride. She was happy to be there even seeming to enjoy being on top of
that mountain. 20
In hindsight for my particular issue was what
happened several days prior to the ride. I had been properly resting
my horse for a couple weeks. I had taken her out just a few times, but
normally I would have taken her out for a little light exercise several days
in a row just to keep things moving. But due to my personal
circumstances I could not do that. She was in pasture 24/7, however,
with the temperatures in the 100's all my horses including her were just
standing under a tree all day. I had been feeding her lots of free
choice hay especially from Wednesday on with some beet pulp, carrots and a
little bran. I wanted her in good weight. But, with this type of
feeding I feel that light riding is very important to move things
along. I feel this contributed to her impaction. It was brewing
and I didn't realize.
So please folks, be understanding, and give the
benefit of the doubt. And learn that you can actually discourage
someone from helping their horse, be it IV's or otherwise by staring and
gossiping. It is not fair.
Hope this helps others.
By
the way. Cira did not receive even one cut, scratch, stone bruise etc.
and was very happy on the trail. She loves her job and I've been riding her
for years. She is a strong mare and she will be back and will do well.
She has the drive, desire, the smarts, and the breeding. I love her
and appreciate her very much. I would give my life for her.
take
care all, and to all those who rode Tevis I know you all understand that
ride. Now that I've experienced I do
too.
