Horse Vacation Destinations

Well if your an equine enthusiast and you are also in need of a vacation why not combine the two and choose a Horse Vacation Destination. Its a good way to incorporate some excercise and a great way to enjoy the scenery while on Horseback. A little web research goes along way in choosing your destination, but also keep in mind your budget and what you would like to experience along the way. In this blog I will talk about various options and details to keep in mind and be your Equine tour guide.

What sort of riding holiday do you have in mind?

This has probably got to be the first question. Just what kind of experience are you looking for? Is it to ride in spectacular scenery? To see wildlife from horseback? Or just to get away from it all for a few days and enjoy riding a good horse. In The Saddle finds it helpful to classify riding holidays into four broad categories. Riding Holidays; Safaris on Horseback; Ranch Holidays and Riding Expeditions.

On a Riding Holiday, whether to Spain, South Africa, California or Mexico, you are sure to have some great riding, be hosted well, have good food and wine and overall a really good time. You can even enter an endurance ride in Namibia. These holidays don’t involve too much planning or specialist packing and you could phone up on Monday and be away on Saturday.

A Safari on Horseback in Africa is truly spectacular. It’s surely impossible to beat the wonder of watching a large herd of towering giraffe as your horse quietly grazes or the heart beating excitement of being face to face with an elephant. Some safaris on horseback are in areas where there is no dangerous game and so are suitable for all levels of rider, including children. Other safaris, in areas where you might encounter elephant, lion or buffalo, are only for experienced riders. Accommodation varies from luxury safari lodges and very comfortable spacious safari tents with their own private bathrooms to simple bush camps with long drop loos and bucket showers.

A Ranch Holiday gives you the opportunity to live out a dream and take yourself to the world of John Wayne. These holidays are often in stunning parts of the world. You could choose a working ranch where you have the opportunity to be a cowboy and move cattle on horseback or a guest ranch with stunning mountain scenery.

A Riding Expedition is a journey on horseback, which may entail a few hardships but reward you with an experience to remember and scenery which you might otherwise not have the opportunity to see. On these rides you need to take a little more care to pack the appropriate clothing for the trip and to make sure you are fit enough for the journey. On many of the expeditions you camp in small two-man dome tents with sleeping bags on mats and limited washing/loo facilities, but hopefully the views make up for that. On others you stay in hotels or farm houses and so have a more comfortable place to spend the night.

Booking with a Tour Operator vs Booking Direct

In these uncertain times there are many reasons why booking your holiday through a specialist riding holiday tour operator is unquestionably the safest thing to do. First of all, the riding holiday company will have checked out the riding holiday and takes responsibility for the quality of the horses, the standard of guiding and safety arrangements and that the actual holiday is provided to you as advertised.

The riding holiday company may also book flights for you but if you wish to book them yourself, they will make sure the flights tie in with local transfers. For long haul destinations you should expect your riding holiday company to be able to book hotel accommodation and perhaps pre or post ride extensions.

It is important to remember that you will not pay more by booking through a riding holiday company and sometimes less. In these times of extreme exchange rate fluctuations it is important to find out whether the riding holiday company will surcharge if sterling were to fall further against the dollar or euro. In The Saddle will fix the price at the time you book and guarantees not to surcharge regardless of exchange rate movements. This means you get peace of mind and no nasty surcharge invoices just before you fly.

And finally, its very important to check that your riding holiday company is fully bonded, which means that any payments you make to the Tour Operator are fully protected in the event of the company going out of business. If you have booked flights through the riding holiday company then they must have an ATOL (www.atol.org) and your holiday money will be guaranteed by the Civil Aviation Authority. If you have booked just the ride, then the riding holiday company must have in place separate arrangements to ensure your money is safe. In The Saddle has a bond with ABTA for this type of business. So, this means you don’t have to worry about sending thousands of pounds overseas and wondering if the ride organiser is actually going to still be there when you go on holiday.

Happy Trails to you until we meet again . . .

Equine Vet Technologies used Today

Today, equine veterinarians can diagnose and treat disease with more speed and certainty than ever thanks to an array of increasingly sophisticated technologies. The digitization of clinical information has had a profound impact on the quality of veterinary care and how veterinarians consult with one another and communicate information to clients. In today's blog post I will be reviewing some of these technologies in use today.

 Anaesthesia: However, for some joints some clinicians prefer to use general anaesthesia. The Hallmarq MRI magnet can be rotated to facilitate this procedure and is especially useful for hock joints. Hallmarq manufactures the only MRI system that allows scans of the equine foot and lower limb in a standing position without requiring general anaesthesia. This unique ability has come about as the result of years of research and development.

 

Computed Tomography (CT) Computed tomography uses radiographs (X rays) and image processing software to generate three-dimensional images of body structures. "CT allows us to really evaluate bone, because it is still X ray technology," says Pease. Unlike a radiograph, which provides a two-dimensional image, CT displays structures in three dimensions by taking pictures in "slices and CT is very good for visualizing head trauma, dental disease, and nasal problems, which are common in horses " according to Pease. "The structures of the head are difficult to see in two dimensions because there is so much superimposition (anatomical structures located above and beneath each other)."

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Magnetic resonance refers to the movement of water molecules in the body (much of the body is water) when they are pulled by an electromagnetic field. An MRI machine consists of a radio frequency transmitter, a magnet, a computer to process images, and a computer monitor on which to view the images. A radio frequency is applied to the magnetic field, which temporarily pushes hydrogen atoms in one direction. When the molecules revert back to their original position, a special antenna (called a coil) detects and records the "spin" of the hydrogen atoms (resonance). Software transforms the resonance data into a digital image that is saved on disk or displayed on a computer screen. Different MRI pictures (called sequences) can be captured to help veterinarians fine-tune their view of anatomical structures; these sequences provide exquisite detail of water and soft tissue.

"MRI has made the most impact on diagnosing problems in the hoof and lower leg," says Pease. "Whenever you have disease or trauma, edema (fluid swelling) is one of the first things that happens. Water is detected as a bright area on an MRI. We can see the soft tissue damage where there might not necessarily be a bone lesion. This helps us diagnose navicular disease and suspensory ligament tears.

Scintigraphy With scintigraphy the veterinarian injects a specialized agent into the horse that has small amounts of radioactive material. This agent selectively binds to or is eliminated from specific structures. A special gamma camera detects gamma radiation emissions from the radioactive material and records the images on a computer display or film. Scintigraphy not only helps reveal disease processes but  also shows functional information that cannot be detected using other imaging techniques.

"Nuclear medicine is helpful when animals have a low-grade nondescript lameness that is hard to localize," says "For example, when bone is injured, it will heal. But this process may not be severe enough to see on an X ray, though it is still causing pain and lameness. On scintigraphy we can see bone damage and healing, but we don't know exactly how bad it is or why it is damaged--we just know it is a site where bone is undergoing remodeling. We can follow up with radiographs, ultrasound, CT, or MRI depending on how bad the lameness is, to further characterize the problem. Cited on March 20/2012

OLG proposes Redirection of Racetrack Subsidies

I am retouching back on the topic of the OLG Racing debate as it was announced yesterday that the OLG wants to basically remove any and all subsidies to all of the Ontario racetracks and redirect them back to the government as of March 13/2013. Simultaneously they announced the proposal of a new casino to be built in the GTA of Toronto, with no final location chosen yet but could ultimately end up back at woodbine? Basically the government just wants to strip away the subsidies from the racetracks and the thousands of people who are directly and indirectly affected by this decision and leave the slots there for their own benefit and demise. It also calls for an expansion of slot machines beyond racetracks, which threatens the profits of Woodbine Entertainment and other Ontario track operators. On the chopping block is a revenue-sharing agreement with racetracks that gives them a cut of the slot profits, amounting to $345 million a year. The horseracing industry is concerned the move will put thousands of people out of work and has been lobbying against proposals to re-direct the money, contending that the subsidies have spurred investment in breeding and the province's agricultural sector.

I think this is another below the belt manouver that has not been fully thought out by the Ontario government, but this is what you have grown to expect isn't it? The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is betting a new Greater Toronto Area casino will create thousands of new jobs and attract $3 billion in private investments. But they are blind to see that it will take away many more jobs and revenue then what they only hope to create. What exists now is proven and already established, which will only be stripped away by stupidity and greed. Toronto has received nearly $175 million from Woodbine profits. Although the revenue-sharing agreement is on the chopping block, slots won’t necessarily disappear at all racetracks. Overall they are claiming that the strategy should create 2,300 net new jobs and 4,000 service and hospitality sector spinoff positions, said OLG CEO Rod Phillips. However they are not accounting for the greater good and all the jobs that are currently positively affected by the agreements that is or was in place between the OLG and the ractrack subsidy as they like to call it. Overall I think it is a bad decision and we will not be able to determine the end result of this decision, however I'm sure that most would agree to disagree that it is a decision that most will look down upon and fails to show any real strategic thinking and planning, as the Government and OLG claim it to be. Toronto deserves real economic development, not the cheap veneer of it.

The provincial government seems to think it has found a sure winner at long last. But as all gamblers learn, there are no safe bets. Encouraging more Ontarians to part with their hard-earned money is no way to balance the provincial books to the tune of a 16 billion dollar deficit it currently sports.

Jockey Club Sets Up Racehorse Injury Reporting Website

The Jockey Club announced March 5 that more than a dozen racetracks have committed to publishing their statistics from the Equine Injury Database through a new website set up by the breed registry.

"The Equine Injury Database recently completed the collection of a third year of data from participating racetracks, representing approximately 93% of the racing days in North America and more than 30,000 records," said James L. Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club. "Keeneland, Woodbine, and the California racetracks have made a practice of publishing their injury and/or fatality data. This new website is designed to encourage other racetracks to follow their lead and make public their data in a standard, summary fashion."

The website will be maintained by The Jockey Club. Summaries of fatality statistics for a particular track will include the month, year, number of race days, number of starts, age and sex of the horse, distance of the race, and the surface on which the incident occurred.

Among the tracks that have agreed to have their statistics published are all of the New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks--Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga--and tracks operated by the Stronach Group--Santa Anita, Golden Gate, Gulfstream Park, Laurel Park, Pimlico, and Portland Meadows.Other participating tracks are Del Mar, Keeneland, Lone Star Park, Remington Park, Turfway Park, and Woodbine.

Barbaro After Surgery at the New Bolton Center

Photo by Sabina Louise

None of the tracks operated by Churchill Downs, Inc.--Churchill Downs, Calder Casino & Racecourse, Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, and Arlington Park--are on the list of tracks that have agreed to have their data published.

"We are committed to making our racetracks as safe as possible for our human and equine athletes," Greg Avioli, chief executive officer of the Stronach Entertainment Group, said in the release. "Sharing information through the Equine Injury Database is an important step in the industry's ongoing effort to better understand the causes of on-track injuries and take necessary steps to reduce these injuries in the future." "NYRA devotes considerable resources to the proper maintenance of our racing surfaces, and we believe they are among the safest in the country," said Charles Hayward, president and chief executive officer of NYRA. "We are happy to provide our data for The Jockey Club Equine Injury Database."

"We commend the racetracks that will be contributing to this important new website," said National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance executive director Mike Ziegler. "The collection of equine injury data is essential, and so is transparency with respect to how this data is presented to the public."

The Equine Injury Database, conceived at the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's first Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, was launched by The Jockey Club in July 2008. A complete list of tracks participating in the Equine Injury Database can be found in the "Safety Initiatives" section of The Jockey Club website.

Originally posted on Bloodhorse.com, Cited on March8/2012