Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Cindy Collins wrote:
> I only want to comment on two things.  First, the tragic deaths of two
> horses (I saw that somewhere it became three, which just goes to show how
> ridecamp works).  Truman, check your facts before you freak out.  First of
> all, one of the best things about the BH is that we had NEVER had a horse
> death of the ride in over 35 years.  It is horrible that this year two
> horses who participated in the ride died.  If anything contributed, it may
> have been the high heat and drought. 
Cindy with all due respect - two horses dead at one ride requires an 
inquiry no matter the history. Each ride is an independent event. The 
abnormal conditions is not an excuse - we see them all the time in the 
East - it is all the more reason that ride management make a special 
effort to reduce the risk to the horses from the conditions. Given the 
fatality numbers that seem to be associated with endurance ride (based 
on the work Jim Mitchell published in the EN a few years ago) .3% in a 
100 and .03% in a 50 (both as a percentage of the number of starters) 
that means the probability of two horses dying in a ride the size of the 
BH at random is on the order of 1 in a 10 million. Some states that 
would get you the lottery. In fact given the BH is a small ride the 
probability of two horses dying at random at the BH during it's history 
is about 1 in 1 million.

Not to say it could not happen. Not to say there was anything wrong with 
the management/vetting. All I'm suggesting is the AERC BOD has a 
responsibility to investigate this issue. Two horses going down at one 
ride without an extensiveness investigation by the AERC is unacceptable.

Truman





--

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things 
and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil 
things, that takes religion.” Steven Weinberg – Nobel Laureate, Physics


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