Re: Carbos -- a different view

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-06-25 20:09:42 EDT, Tivers writes:

<< In my mind, avoiding fatigue is one of the primary responsibilities of the
handler of the athletic horse.  >>

Yes, but I and my colleagues are the ones who look after the horse's interests
when the rider does not do that.  And because I try to do it in a friendly
fashion, I can generally advise the rider sufficiently to have the rider make
the correct choice.  In non-life-threatening instances and cases where
lameness is not so severe to cause packing a limb, I have been known to make
up my mind that the horse is not going on, but give the rider 5 or 6 chances
to "represent" until he or she realizes that it is futile and makes the right
decision.  Nonetheless, I am the one who has to make the final choice, and if
I err in that choice, I am the one who is the first (and sometimes only)
source of medical help, and who may have to stay up all night monitoring IV
bags.  Sobering thought.  And in almost all cases in which I have had to plug
IV lines into a horse, there has been some extenuating cause of their
metabolic crash; the owner has (with all due good intent) taken the advice of
some "expert", in which there was a grain of truth but also a potential for
damage, and has applied it to their horse without having the scientific
background to know the pitfalls.  Yes, it is the owner's responsibility to
care for the horse, but when they fail, I have to pick up the pieces.
Perhaps these horses could have been better managed by an "expert" but their
well-meaning owners who only saw half of the problem were not able to manage
them successfully.  Sorry, this is only real life, and I do not have
"references;"  just several thousand horses going down the trail over lots of
years.  Again, I find it exciting to be working rides during a time when the
researchers are beginning to look at our problems and explain why we have seen
what we have seen, and why our empirical solutions have worked.  In the 25
years that I have been involved with this sport and these wonderful people, I
have seen times get faster, horses have better longevity, standards for
continuing and completion tightened considerably, and competition get keener.
Our horses do things now that we never dreamed possible two decades ago.  We
must be doing something right.  At my Sunriver Classic 100 a couple of
weekends ago, 12 of my 17 finishers came in before dark, and most looked like
they could grab a bite of dinner and go out and do the 50-mile loop again.
(Not all the RIDERS looked that good...)  I can remember my early days in the
sport when the front runners looked like they'd been drug through a knothole
backwards.  The progress in this sport has been truly amazing, and a lot of it
has hinged on a better understanding of nutrition for the aerobic athlete.
Endurance riders have had to be brave and break with tradition; traditional
means were not working.  I'd like to say thanks to the many researchers (our
own Susan G among them) who have studied nutrition more intricately than
simply pouring more calories in the front end; you are the ones who have
helped us pioneer the way for healthier, more successful horses.

Heidi