Re: Susan Garlinghouse at AERC Convention

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Art and I have already spoken about this privately, but I thought this was
worth posting publicly as well.  Apparently the horse in question was in
renal failure, so the kidneys were unable to excrete the excess potassium.
So the problem was not that the rider had over-electrolyted the horse---the
problem was that the horse was otherwise in a severe metabolic crisis, and
the high potassium was just a clinical sign of a much bigger problem going
on.

I wouldn't want anyone to have walked away with the impression that e'lytes
are a risk in and of themselves.  Alot more horses get into trouble through
lack of e'lytes rather than of an excess.  Yes, it can potentially cause
problems if a large dose is given to a horse that is already in
distress---but in some circumstances even then, electrolytes (and especially
potassium) are going to prevent a horse from going down---ask anyone that
has to deal with high heat and humidity from the SE region (jump in here,
Truman).  In virtually every other instance, small and frequent doses of
electrolytes given *before* the horse can get dehydrated or in distress are
going to help prevent a crisis.  The trouble starts in trying to fix a
problem after the fact, rather than in preventing it in the first place.
And thought certainly applies to every aspect of endurance riding, not just
nutrition or electrolyte balance.

Susan G

> Arthur B. King DVM arthur.king @sympatico.ca
> Those of you who attended Susan Garlinghouse's session at the AERC
convention may recall that during the question and answer period a rider
described a situation where someone had blood tested her horse during or
after a ride and said that the blood potassium level was so high thatit was
a wonder that the horse did not die. the rider thought that she may have
overdosed her horse with potassium. this is very unlikely. the daily ration
for a horse contains several hundred times the needs of potassium for
ahorse. It is very difficult to get a horse to absorb more potassium form
its gut than it would require and even if the blood level does get too high
the kidney will excrete the excess.
> susan's reply was basically tha the rider needed to pay attention to the
balance nd amount of electrolytes that are beign administered during the
ride. This is very true. however it is very unususl to get ahorse with a
potential lethal level of potassium in its bloos stram by oral dosing of
potassium.
> I wish that I had spoken with that rider when they asked the question but
I did not. I knew at the time that there was something wrong with this story
but I didn't figure it out until I spoke with Gayle Ecker.
> What probably happened is that when the blood sample was taken the blood
cells were not immediately spun off. The best sample for electrolyte testing
is plasma. this is obtained by collecting whole blood into a tube with an
anticoagulant, and then spin the sample as soon as possible to remove the
blood cells. the high potassium probably resultd form the cells not being
removed form either the palsma or serum quickly enough. what happens is that
the potassium in the blood cells escapes into the serum or plasma sample and
gives a false high reading. Any time a person sees an an unusual result on a
test - any test- wheter the result seems to be too high or too low- if the
reult does not fit with the clinical signs and history, one needs to look at
that result carefully. Was the sample handled properly? Was the test doen
properly with both a negative and positive as control? If the result is
skewed retest the sample if you think there may have been a problem with the
test procedur!
> e. If the sample itself is the problem then you need to resample the
animal.
>
>
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