It takes time to know a horse - this is why I am very conservative with a
strange horse. I am starting a new horse and I will probably spend a year
or more getting to know the horse BEFORE I let him go very fast.
One final point on the rider. When a person becomed "fatigued" there are
metabolic changes that can cause a person to "loose rational thought".
People who are aware of this can mitigate the effect by a deliberate effort
to think every thing through instead of "operating from instinct". The
worse case I have witnessed of this was when I was ski patroling in CO.
About nine years ago a party was lost on a cross country trip from Aspen to
Crested Butte - about 22 miles through some very hard terrian. They had
found all but two people and they called in partol from most of the state
to join.
We found the two about 5 miles from Crested Butte. They had the common
sense to hold up in snow caves for long periods of time - but they were
very tired and were literally "crazed". Although they had a compass, they
didn't trust it because it didn't agree with their notion of North/South.
The were roaming in circles. One started to argue with the rescue party
when we tried to lead them out. He became belligerent and started to ski
off toward an avalanche area. We had to go after him and literally tackle
him, tie him to a tree and call in a helecopter to take them out. His
rational thought process was gone.
While not to that extent, this type of "poor judgement" can happen to
endurance riders to the deteriment of either their horses or themselves.
Truman
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>If you have not had the experience of using a heart monitor on your horse, I
>suggest you might want to try one. Use it all the time and you will know
>what is normal and what is not for your horse.
>I have ridden these rides for more than 20 years and have logged over 6000
>miles in competition and had NEVER had even the slightest problem before. I
>HAVE pulled horse on occassions when they did not feel right or their heart
>rate recovery was not what I felt was normal. But, I have been using on
>board heart monitors religiously for at least the last 6 years. They are
>well worth the money spent!!
>
>Teddy Lancaster
>RUN4BEAR@aol.com
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The race is not always to the swift, but to those that keep running.
Truman and Mystic "The Horse from HELL" Storm
prevatt@lds.loral.com - Sarasota, Florida
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