I am a rider who has done as the original poster praised -- arrived
at a vet check and immediately pulled my horse because he wasn't
himself that day. I am also a rider who once argued vehemently with
the vets at the 50 mile point of a 100 mile ride, to be allowed to
continue when they wanted me to pull. They let me go on, and by the
grace of God I discovered in time that they were right (and walked
back to the check).
Once during a discussion of this type, someone was saying that if a
horse gets in trouble it is always the riders fault, period. I told
him about a horse that coliced at a ride and almost died, and asked
if that was the rider's fault. He said "Of course it was!" Only
then did I tell him that the horse never started the ride, it was
there to be used by ride management if needed, and coliced in its
paddock in camp!
Another time it got back to me that a person who had a grudge
against me was telling stories at rides, about how I "beat my horse
up the mountain" at a major ride. This person did not add that
Kahlil would not tail in those days, and that to get him to walk in
front of me I had to smack his butt. As Paul Harvey says, "The Rest
of the Story."
My greatest embarassment in 17 years came when Kahlil was having a
good roll after a ride, and then cramped painfully when he came up.
I rushed him to the vet, who decided to give fluids just to be on the
safe side. A film crew was there making a documentary of vet
procedures at endurance rides, and there they are filming Kahlil with
an IV in his neck. I wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
I'm certainly not trying to defend a rider who deliberately or
negligently over-rides his horse. But, we are only human, we are not
omniscient. Even the most experienced rider can miss warning signs,
and most of us get caught up in our own desires at times. Unless you
are very, very sure of your facts, don't slander another rider.
In fact, the last time the AERC banned a rider (for a year) due to
*proven* mistreatment of his horse, the rider sued the AERC and the
AERC lost (the rider had to be allowed to ride).
For all the reasons above, I am adamantly opposed to any
kind of a "blacklist" for riders.
Oh, one last comment. It has been my experience that if a horse gets
in serious trouble at a ride, it is more likely to be a horse in the
back half of the pack. The front runner horses are more fit, and
their riders are generally more experienced, so they do not seem to
have problems as often as the slower horses. I haven't made a
statistical study of this, it is only my impression.
--Joe Long Rainbow Connection Arabians PC/LAN Manager home of Kahlil Khai Calhoun Community College AERC Hall of Fame horse jlong@hiwaay.net 11,475 miles completed