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RE: [RC] Vet Cards - Kitley, Carrie E Civ USAF AFSPC 30 MDSS/SGSLFI understand your point. Even though I am fairly in tune to my horse's health, and while I appreciate your suggestion about the scores being subjective, I still find the vet cards to offer me valuable information. While I'm still learning the ropes here, seeing the scores may help to flag an issue I might otherwise miss. Case in point, my 2nd ride, my mare became somewhat dehydrated. Her "B" score on this was a red flag for me to adjust electrolytes, which I did, so subsequent rides went better in that respect. I don't HAVE to have a copy of the vet card though. I realize this could become tedious for RM's, but to have my horse scored by the vet and read off to me as we progress is very helpful, at least for me, at this point in the learning process. Example: I've learned that my mare rarely has great gut sounds. She gets B's no matter what I do. Carrie Kitley 30th Medical Group, Vandenberg AFB DMLSS?Database Sustainment Specialist (DSS) CACI?International Inc? www.caci.com dsn?276-1077, Comm (805) 606-1077 fax dsn?276-1179 <\_~ // \\ carrie.kitley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx? -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cunningham, Marci Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 10:06 AM To: 'ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: [RC] Vet Cards After the comments made recently on ridecamp about the return of vet cards by ride management and how they are used by riders I have to add my two cents worth. I laugh when I hear comments by riders about how their horse received all A's as that can lull a rider into a false sense of security. One of the few times my gelding got all A's at the lunch vet check, he went back to the trailer and coliced. I seldom ever look at the ride card after a vet check but instead depend on my own evaluation of my horse. Scoring by vets is so subjective and people get their panties in a wad if their horse gets a B or even a C. My highest mileage horse seldom if ever gets good scores on gut sounds and is often a C at lunch. I am more concerned if he is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing than what a vet gives me as a score. The key is in knowing what is normal for your own animal. Using a vet card to evaluate a ride from year to year can be misleading due to all the other factors including weather that go into a particular day on the trail. I recently completed a ride that had a 1 plus hour slower finishing time from the previous year due to weather conditions that were much hotter than last year over the exact same trail. I am in favor of vets giving just an okay on the card and every rider should have a stethoscope and know how to use it for pulse and gut sounds. I am a firm believer that it is the rider's responsibility to take care of their horse and that the vets are there to help everyone get through the ride. Granted there are some idiots that need the vets to keep them from over riding their horses but the vast majority of endurance riders care about their horses and don't want to get them in trouble. Before costs became prohibitive, many ride managers used to send out ride results and ride cards to each participant and I have lots of ride cards in my scrap books, but I recognize them for what they are worth which is only the paper they are printed on. Happy Trails, Marci Cunningham in hot Bakersfield =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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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