How to be a GREAT show
Baby Ivey
“Doing the right thing doesn't always bring success. But compromising ethics almost always leads to failure.” ~ Vivek Wadhwa
My spring plans really went pear shaped for a week. It’s horses, I get it! The path is usually not linear when it comes to them. Despite knowing that we all, as a community, keep making plans, setting goals and deplete the bank account, knowing that it might go sideways at any given moment. Maybe we should call it Equiamnesiaosis.
But, this essay isn’t actually about a new medical condition, it’s really about the Paso Robles Horse Park.
The goal was to leave with 3 horses on Tuesday March 28th. I actually hadn’t decided which exact three were going, and let the young ones tell me who was ready for the big adventure. Back up a few days and I decide that Nickel is going to go spend two weeks with Dalton Duncan for remedial ground work training. He hasn’t been progressing as easily as I think he should, and I believe he would be better served by doing more ground training than getting hyper-exposed to new and scary things that would only serve to worry him.
Saturday March 25th, Ivey gets a last minute Coggins and the Three Musketeers are chosen right as three clients who were going to travel with me get sidelined with other things and have to stay home.
Ok, so I need a driving buddy. Call ex-assistant Letty Moreno. I drag her off a mountain and forceably pluck her skiis off and she promises to come with me. I buy a one-way return ticket for Letty to fly home from San Louis Obispo for Thursday.
Sunday, March 26th start taking temperatures on the horses to keep a log for the Paso Horse Park. Pretty standard procedure since the EHV scare of 2022 that literally shut down the entire Californian horse industry. I discover that my very exuberant and lively 5 year old, Ivey, has an elevated temp!! I would have definitely thrown her in the trailer on that day to go do something fun, as she was looking and acting her best self. 101.8 isn’t astronomically scary, but it was real. We frantically take temps on all 18 horses in the barn to see what level of Defcon we should be in.
I leave a message at the Horse Park office to tell them that because of their temp log requirements, we discovered a fever and we won’t be coming. They have an open check from me and they can let me know what I owe for the stalls.
Monday March 27th, Ivey is 103.3 Yikes. I pull some blood and zip down to the vet office for an SAA test. It’s a simple test that will tell you in 10 minutes whether you are dealing with something viral or bacterial. Definitely bacterial. Get giant tub of SMZ antibiotics. Confer with vets about how many days she needs to be temp free before I am allowed to go. They are comfortable with 48 hours of normal temps in order for me to leave. No problem, schooling jumper show is off the table so I have plenty of time to get down to Cali for the Twin Rivers event in two weeks.
Amanda, the PRHP manager calls me and thanks me profusely for my honesty about the fever. She tells me that they are going to rip up my check because they have had other trainers in the past not admit to a fever and come anyway. Which is so stupid and puts everyone at risk! I feel redeemed and know that I have done the right thing.
Tuesday March 28th, the day of supposed departure comes and is gone. Her temp is still elevated. We doggedly take temps for the whole barn and it appears that we are at Defcon 0 as nobody else is sick.
Wednesday March 29th, United Airlines sends me an email saying they have canceled Letty’s flight for the next day. No reason why, just beaurocratic crap from the airlines that would have HUGELY disrupted our plans, had we been driving down at that moment. Letty would have been stuck down there!! And it is here where we start thanking Ivey for her fever and for preventing Letty from having to hitchhike or take a 5-day train home! We start calling her a savant.
But, let’s return to the Paso Robles Horse Park and my entire inspiration for this blog:
They didn’t need to rip up my check. It was very, very clearly stated that after the closing date the trainers are responsible for the stall fees. It was on the entry, in emails, on the website so there was no confusion about how many stalls you secured and thus were responsible for. But, they did the right thing. They not only appreciated me not bringing a thyphoid Mary horse to the show but they also incentivized it. What if her fever was not bacterial but viral? Last year is evidence on how that plays out. It’s tragic for the entire industry.
I think all organizers should behave like the Paso Robles Horse Park. An ounce of prevention is worth 10 pounds of suffering and an eventual cure. Yes, the PRHP lost about $600 from my stalls. But that is a drop in the bucket if they had an outbreak at the show. If a rider got a signed vet certificate verifying a fever on the horse, EVERY show should refund the money the rider owes. Make it such that if you tell the truth and do the right thing, the rider is not financially punished for doing so. In the long run, it will save money and potentially prevent an embarrassing/devastating disease breakout. And most importantly, the riders will be rewarded for putting the horses’ welfare first.