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[RC] Could have been "prevented" - k s swigartLisa said: Yes, we have lost horses in competition and yes even at the ?Tevis maybe. However, according to the WOTH reports, most ?deaths were unforeseen problems that couldn't have been prevented. All of the deaths that have happened at Tevis or any other endurance ride could easily have been prevented from happening at Tevis or any other endurance ride simply by not being at Tevis or any other endurance ride in the first place. Notice that I do not say the deaths could have been prevented (inevitibaly all individuals die once, death cannot be prevented), just that they could have been prevented from happening at endurance rides by not going to endurance rides.? And I mention this because "you shouldn't do it because your horse might die" is not a good enough reason to not be doing it.? If I don't ask my horse to do _________ (fill in the blank), then yes, it will not die while?it is?doing ______, but I will just have to fill in the blank with something else that the horse will be doing when it dies. However, since more than one of the serious accidents and horse deaths that have happened at Tevis are from horses going over the edge, one can hardly say that these incidents were "unforeseen."? You take hundreds of horses and riders every year travelling at speed on the narrow trails of Tevis and combine it with looking at past history of the ride, it seems disingenuous, to say the least, to then say, "There is no way we could have foreseen that somebody would go over the edge."? Going over the edge happens often enough at Tevis to not be entirely inaccurate to say "It happens all the time." Tevis does what it can to mitigate the risks associated with having hundreds of horses and riders on the same narrow trail at the same time travelling at speed (and not always the same speed so often trying to pass each other) over long distances in inaccessible places, but it cannot elimiate them.? The only way to eliminate the risks of Tevis is not to do Tevis at all. I am not advocating abolishing Tevis just to prevent deaths from happening there, despite the fact that riders at Tevis are taking risks with their horses' lives that they don't "need" to take, but merely for the self-gratification of being able to say, "I did it" and to get the outward prize (the buckle) for doing it so that they can show it off to all their friends.? And some people even travel halfway across the world and pay substantial sums of money to do it on borrowed horses that they have never seen or ridden before and will never see or ride again. But I do find it reprehensible that the Western States Trail Foundation (if Kate Riordan is not speaking for WSTF then they should say so and reprimand her for publicly sending out missives with their name attached) is advocating abolishing another equine event just to be sure that some of the horses won't die during it, because if there is one horse event in the world that has known serious risks to horses associated with participating in it, Tevis is it. ALL the deaths at Tevis over the years could have been prevented from happening at Tevis by stopping the event from happening at all. kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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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