skill of national vets (was: body fat and performance)

[wsabg@t-online.de (Wolfgang Schwingenheuer)]

Frank Mechelhoff wrote:

> Thank you Heidi.
> But let me tell you although a vet is president of our national endurance riding
> association, at least 85% of vets judging our long distance events know ONLY the
> skin pinch test on the neck.
> never done capillary refill time, jugular fill, gut sounds on my horse from a
> distance vet...
>
> Any Germans lurking around to confirm ? (where are you Wolfgang S.)


Hi Frank and all others,

I just finished reading all the emails from last Wednesday up to
yesterday - about 1000!!!
So now I am ready to join the party!
Yes, unfortuanetly Frank is right with what he is saying about the
majority of the german vets at endurance events here in Germany. Except
for the few well organised rides with international flair (mostly
ELDRIC-rides) the vets do know only a minimum of what vets in other
endurance countries know and practise. I remember well the German
Championship in 1996, held near Frank's training terrain. I entered the
ride to finish it with the abilities of my horse. Something went wrong
that year in my preparation before the championship so I decided to go
at about 80% of what Ninja could normally do. At the preride-check one
of the vets told me that my horse is ill, he has a virus-infection. I
was totally surprised because I do know my horse for 6 years then and
ask her how she found it out. She replied that the horse has thicker
lymphatic ganglions (sp?) than normal. I said no, he always has them. We
called the head-vet, the same person Frank is talking about in the
above, and she said, no the horse is not allowed to start. I protested
and thank goodness there was a french vet, Mrs. Finance (Heather?), who
said that they have to prove that by taking the temperature of the
horse. It was at 37.3 degree centrigrade, absolutely in the normal
range. The head-vet said ok, but she wants a re-test before the start.
The re-test the next morning was 37.2!!! Than she wrote to the
check-card that the overall impression of the horse was bad and should
be re-tested at the first check. We came in at about 17.5 km/h and Ninja
pulse dropped down to 54 within 30 seconds. Again it was the head-vet to
check my horse and she wrote: overall condition bad, should be
re-tested... It went on like this the whole day. I have to tell you that
I was in the lead together with 4 other riders and we are not going that
strong, jumping of the horse at every climb etc. The speed was about 14
km/h. At the next to the last vet-check one of the riders, who was
favorite, got serious trouble with his horse. The horse was lame, this
was said by to vets, one of them was chef d'equipe of the german team
some times. The rider had trotted the horse twice with no change. But
suddenly the head-vet came and after another trot-out she decided that
he can go on. At the last check before the finish it was me to get
trouble. One of the vets was not sure about the trotting and after
trotting twice, she called the head-vet. But I was not the favorite, my
horse had _virus-infection_, a _bad overall impression_ and a _bad
condition_ so they pulled me. Because the finish was just 2 km up the
road I asked to go there with Ninja but again the german head-vet made a
decision: No, under no circumstances this horse went up there, we
immediately get a transport for you, the horse got cramped in the back
(sorry, there is a term for that, but I do not know the english term...)
and that Ninja should be kept warm etc.. Two hours later a friend of
mine came with a transporter to get me to the finish. Btw, Ninja was
fine that two hours, he grazed, slept, stood there in heavy rain and
wind with absolutely no problems. No signs of cramping, overriding or
anything else. Just another example of veterinarian standards here in
Germany.
And that is one reason why I prefer riding in other european countries
like Belgium (Hi Leo!) or France or Holland - the vets are much better
and the rides are better organised.

Any comments....?

All the best for 2000 from Germany,

Wolfgang + Ninja



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