Oh, good one Steph!
This brings us back to a topic I brought up about hot/humid weather. Despite a good vet, despite a CRI, despite experienced horses and riders, despite plenty of water and despite a "reasonable" CTR pace, we had horses crash all over the place at the end of rides this summer.
Our conclusion was that we needed more opportunities to observe the horses, thus more holds or longer hold times. Our logic was that this would also give the horses more time for "metabolic refueling".
Then I see two endurance rides with longer/more frequent holds and, indeed, minimal treatment was needed, but we saw horses run out of fuel.
So, perhaps there is a "magic" point for horses to rest/recover when being asked to perform beyond what they were designed to do. Just how far and how long should that first hold be?
In addition to Steph's post, I too have seen horses crash or be very lame shortly after passing a vet exam. Nothing is infallible.
John and Sue Greenall
mailto:greenall@vermontel.net
http://www.vermontel.com/~greenall
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=