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Re: [RC] coggins - customary - Linda Marins----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Rueter" <Eric@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> The only valid way you can "check" a coggins paper is to have the "original" in your hands no copies, AND have the horse standing in front of you and match all the markings on the papers with the markings on the horse... ...Just having a "copy" of a negative coggins sent in with the ride entry does not get you off the hook. If you do not check the original against the horse, it doesn't count... I as a RM am ultimately responsible for the horses that show up at the ride, but I am not sure I am willing to put up with the hassle of really checking "coggins". Especially not if the TN Dept of Ag isn't serious about enforcement. That's absolutely correct. Further on in my conversation with the Mass state vet, I told her that the way we "checked Coggins" was to have people show us a *copy* of their certificate when they came up to the table to check in. We never did any more than verify that the name on the certificate matched the name of the horse written on the entry. (These were just pleasure rides.) I asked her if that was OK. She paused, then said that it sounded like a reasonable good faith effort to her. A question that occurred to me subsequently is whether the state had the right to put me into an enforcement role at all. When I got down here to Tennessee, I found out that "checking Coggins" at a trail ride was considered to be exactly as you describe: you have to get on the trailer with the horse and examine it against the certificate. I've never seen anybody do that at a trail ride (or a show, for that matter). I don't know how serious the TN Dept. of Ag is about it. I've never heard of the Mass vets ever "surprise raiding" a trail ride. (I was worried after I talked with them that I might have given them ideas. :-) With only three state vets and a very low in-state incidence, they concentrated their time on livestock sales, big sale barns, and the race tracks. One issue I never faced was actually turning away a rider because of no Coggins. Early on, the standard was to shrug it off and make them promise to bring one next time. Several times I had it whispered in my ear by onlookers that the certificate I was being shown didn't belong to the horse on the grounds. I quit ride managing for that organization shortly after my talk with the state vets, so I never faced the question knowing what I then knew. I know that if I had ever been a hard ass and turned somebody away, the screeching that would have erupted would have been heard in Provincetown, and the officers of the organization putting on the ride would *not* have backed me. Linda Marins =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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