Any news on the outrider's horse that collapsed?

[system]

Probably the most scary thing I’ve ever encountered while outriding was the time someone came out on course with a German Shepard on a retractable leash. She came up to us and the dog was very afraid of horses. He lunged to get away; the leash became unlocked, and he ran circles around and through my horse’s legs. The leash was like a spider web, and the dog finally ran out of length and stood trembling by Thomas’s hind leg.

God bless Thomas, because he stood like a statue even though the thin nylon leash was cutting into his legs! The woman was frozen so I told her to unhook the dog from the leash; hold onto his collar and let the leash go. Then I asked someone else to CALMLY untangle the leash, being very careful that it not go zinging back into the retractable coil.

Whew. I still get the shakes when I think how THAT could have gone down…

[Painted_Wings]

I was on the paint

I was on the black overo paint at fence 16. I helped clear the crowd and guide the horse ambulance in for both the outrider horse and the Italian horse. The wind had picked up and he stood like a rock at a gap in the tarp with the tarp flapping right next to him. He was fabulous.

Other than that my horse always had a crowd of kids around him and stood like a rock. He’s been to Rolex 7 times as an outrider horse.

I met people from Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Canada, Germany and India. It was really neat and many had not seen the likes of a real American Paint Horse.

The outrider’s horse was definitely dehydrated and was drinking what was offered when the vets arrived. He then got up and walked quietly onto the trailer. He was fine.

Some horses don’t drink well when they travel. The horse I brought for Rolex did not drink or eat (other than grass) at all for the first two days. Fortunately I had brought some water at home and finally got her to drink that. The water at the horse park this spring had a very strong chlorine smell. I didn’t notice it as much this time but the water is not good there. I left her home for this trip and brought my more experienced horse. He had no trouble eating and drinking.

[MimsEppi]

[QUOTE=Trail Rider;5137420]
I too was an outrider at the WEG. As Barbara stated above, all the outriders that were chosen to work at the WEG had been outriders for years with Rolex Kentucky. It does take very seasoned horses to do these events.

I’m also the one with the Friesian, who has been doing Rolex for 3 years now, and is pretty much a “been there, done that” horse. Her resume is very long. I’m not sure what everyone saw, but there was a good half hour where we trotted in circles as she had been standing for 3 hours letting people pet her and being very quiet and calm. She finally decided that she wanted to move around, and we did trot circles for awhile until she used up some energy and relieved any aches she had from standing still for so long. Shoot, my legs don’t work so well after standing for 3 hours either, and I had to get off for about 15 minutes to ease my poor old joints!

It’s also possible that the “Full Friesian Alert” is misinterpreted as being scared, or not comfortable with the surroundings. It’s simply watching and listening… not being upset, but in tune with what’s going on around. There is no movement with this, just watching. She was doing a lot of that as there was much to look at.

After that, she did her QH impression and let people pet her again. She really was super all day and I was very proud of her.

Hope you all enjoyed the WEG! It was/is an amazing event! We were honored to be there as volunteers![/QUOTE]

Were you up near the Wishing Well? Beautiful horse! You guys were fantastic.

[pegasus209]

The outriders were all amazing! So glad the oldster was okay too!
I gotta say- I was shocked when I made the circuit again later and saw the same pairs still out there. That was a looong day for them.
“Great job” to all the volunteers!

[Trail_Rider]

Yes, Lena and I were at the Wishing Well, obsticle #8 on the course. Thanks for the compliment!

As Painted Wings stated, many horses don’t eat/drink well when traveling and especially when the water doesn’t smell like what they are used to. Those of us from out of town had to find housing for the horses on Wednesday night, trailer into the Park on Thursday, and then again find housing for Saturday night outside the Park. It was a very intense and stressful 5 days for the horses. Those horses with the personality to take it all in stride did fine, but those who stress when they travel or are “age challenged” may not have done so well with drinking and eating.

This was also the first time any of our horses had to work all day without a break. At Rolex we always get a lunch break and time to bring our horses back to the barn for a drink and a quick bite of lunch. This break also gives them time to move around and trot back to the barn, relieving some kinks and energy if necessary. It was around the lunch break time when Lena and I were doing trot circles, so if we had been able to come back for a break she would have been trotting back to the barn, which wouldn’t have looked odd at all.

The older horse who wasn’t drinking well, as we’ve all said, was fine once he got back to the barn. It was a hot day until the clouds moved in and then the wind picked up, which dehydrated us even more. Once he got water into his system he perked right up and recovered nicely.

When we had two riders go down at our jump we cleared the crowd from the area where the fall happened, got the medics in, kept the area clear, and then got the medics back out when they took the one rider out. Everyone was ok and the horses weren’t hurt in the falls. But during the care given after the fall it is intense and Lena knew something was going on that was “important”. We also had the help of the two big grey’s - I think it’s the Park Police - when they heard of the falls they came over to help also.

But through it all, it was fun! We all enjoyed the event and I was honored to have had the opportunity to outride for such a wonderful group of riders on the course that day! Like Painted Wings, I met many of the teams and spoke with the riders - they were all very friendly and enjoyed meeting people here! I was truly amazed at how friendly they all were, and so “down to earth” for their abilities in their sport!

[Belg]

Trail Rider… That’s a very nice horse you have there. Those Nanning kids are hard to come by now… it was really nice seeing a Friesian out there. Hope to see you there for Rolex so my wife and I can ooh and ahh some more over your mare…

[FalseImpression]

Wow, no water break for you or for the horses?
I know, I know, horses in the wild don’t drink more than once a day, but come on? This sounds like asking for trouble to expect horses to go all day in this kind of atmosphere w/o a chance to drink… and I can’t imagine myself in the saddle for 8 hours without a bathroom break!

[Painted_Wings]

Foxhunters

I’ve spent over five hours in the saddle out hunting. When we cross creeks I always offer my horse a drink yet he never takes it. I figured he would be fine with 8 hours of standing around without water and he was.

[ddashaq]

@Trail Rider;5137420

I too was an outrider at the WEG. As Barbara stated above, all the outriders that were chosen to work at the WEG had been outriders for years with Rolex Kentucky. It does take very seasoned horses to do these events.

I’m also the one with the Friesian, who has been doing Rolex for 3 years now, and is pretty much a “been there, done that” horse. Her resume is very long. I’m not sure what everyone saw, but there was a good half hour where we trotted in circles as she had been standing for 3 hours letting people pet her and being very quiet and calm. She finally decided that she wanted to move around, and we did trot circles for awhile until she used up some energy and relieved any aches she had from standing still for so long. Shoot, my legs don’t work so well after standing for 3 hours either, and I had to get off for about 15 minutes to ease my poor old joints!

It’s also possible that the “Full Friesian Alert” is misinterpreted as being scared, or not comfortable with the surroundings. It’s simply watching and listening… not being upset, but in tune with what’s going on around. There is no movement with this, just watching. She was doing a lot of that as there was much to look at.

After that, she did her QH impression and let people pet her again. She really was super all day and I was very proud of her.

Hope you all enjoyed the WEG! It was/is an amazing event! We were honored to be there as volunteers!

I am SO glad that you posted this!! Jason and I looked for you, but with the enormous crowds had absolutely no luck. Give Lena a pat and a carrot for me, and hopefully we will catch you all at Rolex next year!

[Watermark_Farm]

We saw you, paint and Friesian mommies! You both looked great. I’m glad to hear the outrider horse who had trouble is OK. Thanks for working this event — it looked like a long day for you and your mounts.

[Rabtfarm]

We were at the head of the lake and watched the outrider on the hillside(full sun all day) and felt bad for her and her mount. We came in with the FEI vets staff at 5am and they were about to work a 24 hour shift. Who makes up these work schedules!?

“The crowd at WEG was very different from the crowd at Rolex. I’ve never had so many people cut through the galloping lane - idiots!”

As a spectator who walked, walked some more, drank funny lemonade, walked, sat in the sun, walked, etc…I can only say that it was quite the marathon and we were all pretty gaga at day’s end…and I don’t mean sh*tfaced…just really tired, probably a bit dehydrated too…so it doesn’t surprise me that folks would make poor decisions like crossing galloping lanes right in front of the competitors.
They weren’t the only ones. The head of the lake crossing gate guards also messed up when a slow rider was closely chased by a fast rider…by the time they reached the lake, there was no time for lane crossing between those riders but the guards opened up anyway. Lots of FEI whistles then I can assure you.
I can only guess that the FEI/WEG organizers ran longer shifts to reduce changeover traffic to and from the park.

[Trail_Rider]

[QUOTE=Belg;5139074]
Trail Rider… That’s a very nice horse you have there. Those Nanning kids are hard to come by now… it was really nice seeing a Friesian out there. Hope to see you there for Rolex so my wife and I can ooh and ahh some more over your mare…[/QUOTE]

Thanks!!! We’ll definitely be at Rolex - looking forward to that is what gets us through the winter! I love Nanning! He’s a very special guy! I hope to see you at Rolex in the Spring, please come by and see us!!!

[Trail_Rider]

[QUOTE=ddashaq;5139903]
I am SO glad that you posted this!! Jason and I looked for you, but with the enormous crowds had absolutely no luck. Give Lena a pat and a carrot for me, and hopefully we will catch you all at Rolex next year![/QUOTE]

I’m sooo sorry we missed you! I looked for the FHANA booth, but never found it! The grounds were huge, and hard to find stuff. I tried shopping, and just gave up. We’ll definitely be at Rolex in the Spring and look forward to seeing you there!!

[Trail_Rider]

[QUOTE=Watermark Farm;5140014]
We saw you, paint and Friesian mommies! You both looked great. I’m glad to hear the outrider horse who had trouble is OK. Thanks for working this event — it looked like a long day for you and your mounts.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your support for the volunteers! It was a long day as we were on course almost an hour before the first horse on course. But it was fun, and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to outride for WEG! It’s a day we will never forget!

[Trail_Rider]

[QUOTE=Trail Rider;5140435]
Thanks!!! We’ll definitely be at Rolex - looking forward to that is what gets us through the winter![/QUOTE]

I love Nanning! He’s a very special guy! I hope to see you at Rolex in the Spring, please come by and see us!!!

[Painted_Wings]

The crowd was great

I had two total strangers give me bottles of water. One friend of a friend that I’d never met before made a trash run for me. Another foxhunter gave me a sip from her beer as she went by.

Considering that water was $3 a bottle I was amazed at how friendly, generous, and nice the crowd was.

[ivy62]

We too, were there when the horse laid down. He was so thirsty. Why were they not giving these horses water? I am glad he is okay…

[Rt66Kix]

The 27 year old horse is fine. I heard today that he really wasn’t dehydrated; he was just tired. When the rider got him home that night, he galloped from the gate to the end of the pasture to join his friends. Like nothing ever happened. I got the impression that this was their last “hurrah” together, and now he’s officially retired.

[shawnee_Acres]

Although I do believe that the horses should have an opportunity to drink and DEFINITELY the riders (as humans do not take in NEARLY as much liquid at one time as a horse is capable of), 8 hours without drinking is not difficult for a hrose, paritcularly if they are primarily standing around. My horses come in at about 8:00 am, they eat, then drink and then, even tho I refill buckets at noon, nearly ALL of them do not drink again until they are turned out about 5:30, which is well over 8 hours. So a horse that is not really working hard should not really NEED water any more often. Many people think horses brink like humans, every hour or so and that simply is not the case.

[ivy62]

I am glad he is okay. I was there and he drank a ton of water when it was offered… He had done a great service over the last few years and now deserves a rest…