Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

So true.  I rode my horse in various states and many rides. and most people know how I rode and how careful I was with BOB and he has been treated and on IV lines as well.  There is no worse feelilng than sitting with you horse on an IV and have unknowledge people walk by and give you "that LooK"!!!

Susie Jones <swjones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm having a real problem trying to figure out how to post this, since I generally just peruse the digest... but I have a REAL problem with the following statement by Dawn Carrie:

 

"The no horses treated - while I would definitely consider that important, one cannot predict the level of stupidity riders will bring to the ride, and I would not judge my ride a failure simply because a rider rode the hair off their horse on a hot day."

 

This implies that if a horse needs to be treated at a ride, it is the rider's fault.  On some occasions, this may be correct.  But more often, it's a "shit happens" kind of thing.  I know.  I've watched friends go through this and I've been there myself.  I rode my mare at a very conservative pace on a 50 miler in August 2005.  We finished back of the pack and she vetted through the finish check "just fine".  5 minutes later, she was pawing the ground and acting REALLY uncomfortable.  I wouldn't wish what we ended up going through over the next couple of weeks on any horse/rider team.  I almost lost her.  After reviewing everything that I'd done before/during/after the ride, my vet felt that I had done nothing "wrong" (although when you add up all the details "after-the-fact", I've come up with a LOT of stuff I'll do differently in the future...).

 

I'd like to see people move away from the tendency to "always blame the rider" when a horse has a problem.  I know that when it looked like I was about to loose my mare, a big concern was that this "story" would end up on the internet and I'd end up being burned in effigy.  I guess that's what we get for being "totally connected" via the internet.  Personally, I think the internet often causes more harm than good.... and contributes more mis-information than good-information to those seeking knowledge.

 

Susie Jones

Miami, NM

AERC# 7997