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RE: [RC] Rule Change Proposal - Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVMA few thoughts as I'm reading all this stuff. One is, many times it seems horses suffer because the vets tell the riders to slow down on the next leg, and the riders ignore this. But it is fair to the majority of people who DO follow advice like this, to pull them *just in case they don't follow advice*? I really really don't want to override my pony, but I'd be really upset if I got pulled because I wasn't trusted to listen to a vet or experienced people. The AERC vet committee has done a good job of educating the ride vets NOT to decide go-or-no-go based on trying to predict what the rider is going to do on the next loop. Either the horse is okay to go right now, or its not---there are no conditional passes, ie "I'll let you go but only if you walk the next loop". What we CAN do is tell the rider things like (for example), "Your horse is okay to go, but he's getting tired. I would suggest you slow down and make sure he has a chance to drink every chance and you should complete okay. If you keep going at this speed, there's a good chance he won't meet fit-to-continue criteria, and you won't even get a completion, and have a chance he might need treatment later on." See the difference? We don't pull because we think the rider won't follow advice, although we do (over time) get a pretty good idea of who listens and who doesn't, and if there's any wavering on whether to cut some one some slack, they usually won't get it. I would welcome some sort of newbie-type armband or whatever, on my first ride. Then you guys might not think I'm so stupid.. :-) Of course, you might conclude that anyway... You sound pretty sensible to me. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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