ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: [endurance] responses to the heat
Re: [endurance] responses to the heat
Gayle L Ecker (gecker@uoguelph.ca)
Mon, 3 Jun 1996 10:12:37 -0400 (EDT)
I would like to add my strong support to the comments made by Lynn
Taylor. Any one trying to "fool" the veterinarians may be asking for
serious trouble, unfortunately, it may be your horse that would suffer.
Ride veterinarians are there to protect the health of your horse. They
must quickly evaluate the horse in about 2 minutes and carry on to the
next one, often doing scores of horses in a very short period of time.
The lack of technical support and
equipment is also working against them, as they basically only use
stethoscopes, thermometers and their hands and eyes to evaluate whether
the horse is okay. The veterinary inspection allows the judges to look
at a "snapshot" at one point in time during the ride, it cannot possibly
tell the whole story, no matter how
knowledgeable the vet. It is a "limited" examination and ALL
parameters must be used together to evaluate the horse. Hiding one of
these important parameters from the judging staff is not helping your horse.
If the horse is panting, that means the horse is having a problem dissipating
heat. This is not something that should be hidden!
Gayle Ecker