| Author |
Message |
    
Janet Pilling
| | Posted on Monday, 25 August, 2008 - 6:36 pm: | |
I was probably one of the smaller ponies Ian describes as a 'drowned rat' coming out of the water :o) but my pony has been much more fatigued at other events - Erddig was particularly tiring for him as it was very hot and we had come in with a lot of time in hand so walked the last 500m - this was not the right thing to do in the heat as by the time we had got him back to the stables he was really hot and fed up. Thankfully he was fine once we had him washed off and cooled.
Lowther was a tough old marathon but I felt that the half hour walk back to the stables was ideal for my pony and let him get himself back to normal without chilling. It is a real challenge taking care of a horse or pony in our climate - every event has presented us with different weather and conditions - but surely this is part of the sport? I remember Lowther a few years ago when a few of the team horses had heat stroke and the worry there was how to get fluids into them and cool them down. Organisers were criticised then for not shortening the marathon - they just can't win!
I'm sure we all appreciate the reports in H&H Kerry - they are always the first thing I look at - but it would be nice if instead of condeming the BHDTA the focus could have been on the smiling faces of the stewards plodding through the collecting ring and the stoic attitude of the competitors who got on with the cones sledging without too much concern about the state of their carriages and harness, not to mention the mud being hosed off horses and ponies for the third day in a row. If the organisers had cancelled or altered the event then everyone would have been affected regardless of whether they felt their animals could cope or not. As it was everyone was competing on equal terms and had the choice to withdraw at any point.
At Alnwick a few years ago similar conditions resulted in the dressage being cancelled, the marathon seriously shortened and two obstacles removed - not a proper driving trials at all and I withdrew my entry and went home. Others chose to go ahead and enjoyed it - it's up to the individual and sometimes competing against the weather makes it more of an endurance trial than a marathon!
Maybe H&H could help by considering an article of competition horse care in varying conditions and look at how other disciplines manage when presented with adverse weather - the National Dressage Championships last year spring to mind! - and endurance riders have to cope with all sorts of conditions. I think we could all learn a lot from each other regarding fittening, and cooling off/keeping warm in the torrential rain and gales mixed with scorching sunshine our country seems to favour now.
Lowther wasn't so horrendous - it was more a sad weekend that made people think of how it has been in past years but none of us are in control of the weather. |
David Taylor
| | Posted on Monday, 25 August, 2008 - 2:07 pm: | |
A little off the subject but this is an example of rules brought in with welfare of animals in mind causing unforeseen complications when common sense might have been better. Lowther used to be up to 28 km long and allowed us up onto the top of the fells that were stony but not thick clinging mud. Now we are committed to 21 kms they have route through low land and it is far harder if wet. Also I used to compete with 10.2 hh ponies in tandem (ie: a single doing the work, and with 18kph on D and 15kph on A and make the times at Lowther. I do not think that competitors get their horses as fit these days and the horse types chosen for showy action in the dressage may be are not so robust? |
Kerry Bowness
| | Posted on Monday, 25 August, 2008 - 12:07 pm: | |
Dear all,
Thank you for your thoughts on Ian Russell’s Lowther report, which featured in H&H on 21 July. As H&H driving editor, I thought I’d respond to your comments regarding the use of the word “exhausted”.
I too was at Lowther driving trials and spoke to several competitors after the marathon. Many drivers described their horses/ponies as being “exhausted, shattered, weary and extremely tired”.
Full credit to those drivers whose animals arrived at the obstacles not appearing overly tired — this can only be down to fitness regimes at home and animals being able to recover sufficiently at the halt before section E.
However, what those of us watching at obstacles did not see were the conditions on the sections preceding E, which myself and Ian were told were less than desirable — deep, holding mud. Three competitors told me that their animals were having to pull even downhill because mud was holding the carriages so much, I saw one driver unhitch an animal after section E and lead it back to the stabling field so it did not have to endure any more work, and two horse teams drivers told me they were having to push on exceptionally hard not to gain time penalties.
These are some of the facts that were presented to myself and Ian Russell. I hope you will appreciate the lengths he and other H&H reporters go to in order to get information to the reader which you would perhaps have otherwise been unaware of.
Kindest regards,
Kerry Bowness
Show Jumping and Carriage Driving Editor
Horse & Hound |
Louise McCutcheon
| | Posted on Sunday, 24 August, 2008 - 1:20 am: | |
Hear, hear Patti
Media over sensationalism, I think!
Were any horse spun at the vetting? Exhausted horses could not have come out and done cones in Sunday's conditions.
Keep to the facts, please. |
Patti Atkinson
| | Posted on Saturday, 23 August, 2008 - 1:45 pm: | |
Para 2 on page 92 of 21st August H & H. I quote "not least the absence of any alteration to what proved to be a remorseless marathon challenge that left numerous animals exhausted".
I spent all day spectating at Lowther water and although one pony team withdrew at that stage I did not see any animals looking "exhausted".
The fastest time of the day in the water was from a single horse (surely the toughest of the classes are the singles) and most ponies and horses were still going strong at that stage.
Tired - yes. Exhausted - ?
Come on Ian, was "exhausted" not too strong a word? |
|