Re: [RC] Signing horses over to USEF - Elizabeth Walker
Well, sounds as if this year, that wasn't an issue. From the reports, everyone was happy with the care their horses got. However - that was this year, this team (and I bet Becky had some input into that.) Kind of what I said before - if your management team is good, there there would most likely not be a problem. But if they aren't, you get horror stories like Natalie heard.
On Nov 12, 2008, at 12:06 PM, heidi larson wrote:
I ahve to agree with Natalie on this one! My horse is doing pretty well and there is not just one thing that I attribute his success to. I'd have to say I owe my farrier a huge chunk of the credit, he knows Ash's feet better than anyone and won't change anything without a discussion with me first. Our feeding and training is just that, OUR feeding and training. How often do we read on RC or hear at seminars and endurance clinics that each horse is an individual and we can't take one person's training or feeding (or anything) and directly apply it to a totally different horse? What works for me may not work at all for someone else. My horse is used to certain things and to have those things changed within weeks of an important long distance event after sustaining long distance travel doesn't seem fair to the horses or the teams.
. o o o o . o_ \ \____ o_ \_\ . (*)~(*)\_______/ . / \ . \______/ / . \_______/\ /- . o-- /_/ \ / . / \ / / . o o o-- / . / \ . o o heidi larson
<<< It is this stipulation that allows USEF management teams to control shoeing, feed, training decisions if they desire. jt>>>
Well, that is yet another of the reasons you'd NEVER see me participate in a WEC ride.... After hearing the horror stories from one of my local endurance club members that made it into the WEC several years ago (among which, was her horse being lamed up totally by the team farrier deciding the angles on the horse needed hacking away at, and doing it drastically...her horse was not the only one on the team either suffering this... and telling the riders to ride in a strategy counter to what they believed their horses were good at...afterall, the riders got to that level by riding their horses to the best of it's capabilities...to totally change those strategies completely...well, no wonder we finish last all the time, or have so many horses pulled before they ever make it to the finish), I sure was shaking my head at it all...She also decided not to ever do a WEC again... I could not give control over my horse to some organization that does not know it, have them change everything, maybe even have someone else ride it? Nope... But then, I am always told I am not a good "team" player...guess that is another reason I do endurance...the only team is me and my horse...and that is a partnership, not a team. And I would not want to ever screw that up cause some person who doesn't know a thing about us, that sees us for three weeks at most before a huge event (one will hope with Kentucky, maybe we can pick a team further ahead and train them sooner and longer...) decides how I should ride my horse...
Anyway, just my two cents...I will go back to lurking again...
Natalie (wondering if we ever had a 5-day WEC, how some of our horses would do, vs these superspeed 100 milers)
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... 'Wow! What a ride!' "
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