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Re: [RC] Truman, BH, colics - Sisu West RanchTruman:If you had performed your analysis last year, would you have concluded that the BH was significantly safer than rides in general? If one of the colicing horses this year had recovered (We all know it does happen), would you have concluded that the BH was about as dangerous as an average AERC ride? I guess my point is: When one or two relatively rare events can completely change conclusions, I loose faith in the usefulness of statistics. In my career as a relatively unsophisticated industrial engineer and chemist, I have seen people make decisions about a problem in a factory based on confidence intervals etc. and then later found that what had really happened was just a couple of random events, even though statistics did say that they were significant. Should the Big Horn be looked at? Absolutely. Any RM who has a death and does not invite an investigation aimed at making his/her ride safer is hiding his/her head in the sand. Should we be in a panic that the BH should be drastically changed to prevent more horse deaths. Absolutely not. Should people be aware that certain rides (Tevis, BH etc.) take you miles and hours from help and counsel? Of course. Should people be aware that if they choose to go into remote areas (Tevis, Big Horn mountains, Selway Bitterrood Wilderness etc.) with or without an organized Endurance Ride they will be hours or perhaps days from medical help for their animals, or themselves? Of course. Is it fair for us to ride animals in manners that do increase their chances of death? That is a moral decision. You must decide this for yourself. Some conclude that any ownership of animals is wrong. Some decide that the food, medical care, and retirement we provide to our animals positively offsets any pain or death we inadvertantly inflict on them. We own a number of horses who statistically have outlived the life expectancy of a "free living, feral, or wild" horse. I think they have gotten a good bargan, even if they have a chance of dying on a ride. I have had to put 3 horses down. They died quickly, and painlessly. Far better than starving for months and being the one the wolves pull down. Ed Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875 (406) 642-9640 ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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