Hypothetical injury-varied responses

["Ed and Wendy Hauser" <sisufarm@mmmpcc.org>]

Thoughts while taking ribbons down:
An incident at the ride I helped manage last weekend got me thinking about
the recent drug residue thread and some of its implications.  I have
formulated my thoughts in the form of hypothetical responses to a score
sheet.

At the end of a 25 mile competitive (trail) ride, Bint Bint, an experienced
16 year old competitive horse with a total of more than 1000 miles looses 6
points for “lameness”, in the right rear.  The score sheet is similar to a
BC sheet.  Bint Bint scores well otherwise and gets a 5th place ribbon.  A
sound horse (grade 0), looses no points.  A horse with a lameness that can
sometimes be seen circling (grade 1) looses 1 to 20 points.  A horse with a
lameness that is consistent circling (grade 2) looses 20 to 40 points etc.
This means that Bint Bint, had a lameness that an experienced endurance vet
could sort of find circling, but would not have seen trotting straight, as
is done at the end of an endurance race.

Lets assume that Bint Bint is owned by one of three different people:

1. John examines Bint Bint, finds a sore butt muscle, figures that 6 points
is nothing, collects his 5th place ribbon, goes home puts Bint Bint into the
pasture.  He palpates Bint Bint and when the soreness goes away by
Wednesday, assumes he is recovering and enters him in a race in two weeks.
2. Sally is concerned and goes over Bint Bint carefully and finds that he
has a sore muscle in his butt.  When she gets home she calls her equine
massage practicianer, and has Bint Bint massaged on Monday and Wednesday.
Because he responds to this treatment, she enters him in a race in two
weeks.
3. Annette is also concerned, and finds the sore butt muscle.  She figures
that it would help Bint Bint if he were to have some bute for the ride home
and gives him 2 grams.  On Monday she talks to her vet who says that since
he is less sore she could continue the bute two days and see how he is.  By
Wednesday he appears fine and she discontinues the treatment.  Two weeks
later she enters him in a race.

The questions are:

1. Which of the owners responded properly to this injury?
2. How long should each have waited before entering a race?
3. Is the purpose of the drug rule to prevent a horse from having his
performance enhanced by a drug, or to enforce a certain period of rest after
an injury?
4. If purpose of the drug rule is to enforce rest periods, should we make
new rules designed to prevent John and Sally from racing until their horses
have healed?  If so what would these rules be.

I don’t have any answers to these questions, but do think that they are
things we should all think about.

Ed and Wendy Hauser
1140 37th St.
Hudson, WI 54016
sisufarm@mmmpcc.org


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