>Let's face it; the vets cannot keep competitors from over-riding their
>horses;
>kat
>Even with the BEST vets, horses can still get into trouble, a good example
>being the World Championships. In other words, people will override the
>horse no matter how strict the ride is.
>Louise Burton
I hate being in the position of having to enforce rules; I'd rather I was
there to comfirm that the riders had done a brilliant job of looking after
their horses. I wouldn't want to vet at rides where people were riding for
big cash prizes, and I think many of my colleagues over here feel the same.
Someone suggested checking the horses the day after the ride to detect
potential over-riding - in my experience this would be less successful than
re-checking the horse one to two hours after the final check. Many of the
good experienced endurance horses recover well and look fabulous the
following day regardless of how they were managed.
Anne
Western Australia