Wow Tom. You sure don't have a way with words. But
that's alright, we are all adults.
I agree with your ideas about electrolytes. I have
never thought shoving salt down a horses throat during a race was all that
smart. That has a lot to do with my own running experiences and to me, it just
doesn't make much sense. I have no scientific evidence for my conclusion, but
like Judge Judy says, if it doesn't make sense it probably isn't right or true.
I don't believe that only 1% of our riders are
smart enough to be in this sport. I know there are a lot, I mean way too many
stupid people that own horses. However, I believe that, that concentration of
ignorance is outside of this venue and that endurance has some of the most
educated horse people. Nutrition has become so specific to endurance that
even the feed companies have tried making feeds to give horses an "edge". I
am not saying that everyone should be feeding these concentrated feeds, but I do
believe that endurance riders have a pretty good handle on feeding programs. No
one feeds their horses the same. No one rides them the same, either. The
information is out there, and most of us are reading and researching
it. What more can we do?
Yes, we all know it takes an awful lot of knowledge
and courage to get a horse ready for competition. However, you are assuming that
is what every rider's goal is. It's not. Some people just want to ride. That
doesn't mean they shouldn't be as educated as possible to make the right
decisions for their equine partners. Therefore, there are lots of contributions
to ridecamp that benefit the majority of riders. Your comment about horses dying
left and right just aren't true. The reason they are not dying at the rate you
cited is because we HAVE learned quite a bit in the past 10 years or so since I
started riding. Do we know the perfect formula? Do you?
You can't possibly blame Steph, for anyone else for
that matter for "fluffiness". People will do whatever the hell they want
to with their horses. I don't think any of us come to this forum for a
"battle", Tom. You keep referring to science as the one true way to knowledge,
to win a battle but what science dictates today, may not be true tomorrow.
Right? Maybe in order to understand the "core science of athletics" it
helps to have come from some kind of an athletic
background either from high school or college sports, or a running/triathlon
background, but not everybody has that. So to imply that readers
of ridecamp can't grasp a basic understanding of physiology, cardiology,
nutrition and training just isn't fair. You don't need a science degree and
a lab to ride endurance, do you?
You are absolutely right when you say, if you don't
know fact from fiction, find out for yourself. I believe some people do
tend to follow, rather than think for themselves. Sometimes though, we have
to make mistakes in order to learn or rely on experts, self proclaimed or not.
Only then, will we have the knowledge to be able to tell the
difference.
Endurance is a sport, but not all participants have
the same goal. I assume you are criticizing our US teams when you say that we
are the laughing stock of the endurance world. That's pretty harsh, considering
that most of us do not agree with the way some other countries ride and drug
their horses just to compete. What about you? Do you think we are the only ones
that have horses die in competition? I know you
don't. Although it would be very hard to prove, I'll bet we have lost the least
amount of horses than most other countries. Not that that's a good thing, but I
think we have advanced in equine health and nutrition more than most.
So maybe we are working on keeping horses safe and
alive now, so that in the next few years we can do that AND win? Is that a
possibility? Who cares what the other countries think? Do you care what other
people think? I'll bet you don't, especially if you think you are doing the
right thing. Would you agree?
Perhaps you could share with us and the US team
pages from your log book showing examples of weight loss, time it took to
rebound, how you knew if it was tissue damage or dehydration, blood work and
temp charts. How do you tell what your horse's lean mass is? I have to admit, I
never heard of that before. What is an efficiency score? I know how to body
score and if it is a 3 or below, I will assume, the horse won't be very
efficient. :)
But let's not forget that sometimes we tend to over
analyze and end up under achieving. I'm sure you would never fall into
that trap, but the rest of us......well, you know. It's all about priorities and
individual situations.
Surely Tom, you don't want to leave us all in the
ignorant category, especially since it seems to aggravate you. Don't be so
testy, just tell us what you think we need to know and can't seem to figure out
for ourselves. If we like it, we'll use it, our horses will benefit from it and
you won't have to be so cranky with us. Won't that just make your
day?
I don't mean to imply that you are old, Tom, I have
never met you. But I feel like I need to send you some "Crotchety Old Man" CD's.
You do have to have a sense of humor though, which I am sure
you do to appreciate them.
