Comments on: My horses problem couldn’t possibly be related to…..his rider!

By: gp

gp — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:13:35 +0000

wow.. how awesome is this conversation…. whilst being a newbie I always always blame myself first… what could/should have i done differently. … is my equine soulmate okay ?? Why wont he just tell me this is great great keeper stuff

thanx as always

cid and gazi who thanks u too

By: Natalie H.

Natalie H. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:34:44 +0000

Good post, though I agree with Melinda…there ARE times when shit just DOES happen and it is no fault of the rider at ALL. I have witnessed two horse treatments that fall into this, one even resulting in the horse’s death. Both riders are very conscientious of their horse, both rode carefully that day, but both had shit happen that could have happened at home as soon as at the ride. Notably both ALSO finished the ride and passed the completion exam. Luckily both knew their horses and knew something was NOT right and sought immediate help. The horse that died ended up going to a refferal facility asap and then on the Op table was euthed. Had a ruptured Ulcer :( It could have ruptured at home and horse had not shown (as far as I know) any previous signs of ulcers, but horse was knew to her (less than a year owned). Sad all round.
As to paying attention after/during a ride, ja! Only you REALLY know your horse. After Chamberlain Creek this year, which we finished at our usual slow pace, Chey passed with the usual flying colors. After dinner/awards (bout 2hrs later?) he was “standing funny” with a “weird look” on his face and just generally odd looking (head low, etc)…wasn’t digging into food 9usually eats LOTS), but not NOT eating either… Took pulse, it was low, etc… walked him around, Terri said he looked fine, quit worrying. I just was NOT convinced he was “normal”. He was back to eating normal in about half an hour, but I still was not convinced…I got up every few hrs ALL NIGHT to check on him “just in case”…I was so tired and annoyed the heck out of Terri prob (our camper door is NOT quiet, LOL). He continued to be “fine” and looked “normal” all night and the next morning and nothing ever resulted from it. But I sure would have hated it if I had NOT checked on him all the time and woken up to a colicky horse in the am or something. We know what is “normal” or not for the horse…listen to your instincts even if other ppl think you are nuts

By: Cindy Collins

Cindy Collins — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:48:38 +0000

Great article, Karen. I didn’t finish the BigHorn this year because I got sucked up with a group of friends that I loved riding with. Unfortunately they were going too fast for the conditioning and experience of my mare. It was totally my fault that she ran out of gas at 40 miles. Cindy

By: Melinda

Melinda — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:36:10 +0000

Karen – great post. I’m going to think about this and post to my blog on “things I could ahve done differently at my last ride”, which at this point is Tevis. I’ll link back to your post.

I agree that rider error is rider error the majority of the time. (Same with falling off.) However, I’ve learned to be very careful in taking ALL of the blame. Somethings crap does happen. I could prevent a lot of *crap* from happening if I never rode. When Farley bowed her tendon by rapping it (this was NOT at a ride), it’s true I could have done a couple of things:

1. Put front boots on her (but she had never demonstrated a need for boots on a trail ride and I don’t arbitrarily boot because that can cause more issues)

2. Gotten off and walked past the split rail fence where there was cows (we had ridden past this several times with never an issue).

3. Not ridden where I didn’t have room to manuever if something did happen (if I followed this, I would literally never be able to ride out of the arena where I board).

I caught it right away, rehabbed her. In that 2 years I’ve ridden past that same spot hundreds of times with the incident never repeating itself. If it had been a ride, it would ahve been a pull. Could it has been prevented? Absolutely. Is it necessariily my fault for having not prevented it? I’m not sure it is that clear cut.

But you are right – in the majority of cases it goes back to rider error and learning from mistakes. With the exception of Minx, my very first year, I’ve not gotten pulled for the same thing twice. Hopefully this means I’m learning.

Great post.