What a day today was at the Kentucky Horse Park. A tiny nick in a horse’s tongue caused a major catastrophe in the career of one of the world’s rising star riders. As the Dutch vet pointed out, it only takes one drop of blood to turn a vial of water bright red; likewise, it takes only one drop of blood to turn a horse’s saliva red.
And so it was that the Ground Jury was compelled to ring the bell and halt the high-scoring performance of The Netherlands’ Adelinde Cornelissen on Jerich Parzival. The cut stopped bleeding instantly, but the damage was done. It’s a welfare issue, and Adelinde was disqualified from further competition.
People joke and say that there are more veterinarians here than there are horses. They may be correct. There are event vets, FEI vets, State of Kentucky vets, regulatory vets, quarantine vets, team vets and even sometimes personal vets for the horses, even though they have team vets.
And let’s not forget the sponsor vets. Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital is just down the road, and they are providing the event veterinarians as well as access to their facility if it is needed.
But Rood and Riddle’s sponsorship goes a step further. As the official veterinary hospital of the Games and a key sponsor of the entire event, Rood and Riddle had a key opportunity to use their position in educational ways. Their “show and tell” exhibit about the technology and the services available at the hospital allows visitors to wander through the exhibits while having staff nearby to answer questions and explain equipment or horseshoes.
Horseshoes? Yes, the hospital built a shallow-drawered vertical case to display therapeutic horseshoes used in the hospital’s podiatry clinic. Ultrasound and radiography are featured, but you know that the crowd stopper will be the colic surgery!
The pavilion, which is located in a neighborhood called the Alltech Experience, has a theater where lectures and demonstrations will be going on throughout the Games. There is no charge to attend any of the events in the Alltech Experience, including Rood and Riddle’s lectures.
Don’t forget to leave comments on this blog. Log into your DiscoverHorses.com account (at top left of every screen) and you should be able to leave comments.
