Tevis research

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

Hi all,

 

We're on the road towards Tevis tomorrow morning, so this is my last chance to put in a bid for this year's Tevis research project.  Barney Fleming DVM and Steve Wickler PhD DVM are the participating vets, we have a terrific volunteer crew and LOTS of support from WSTF to make it all run smoothly.  We have a lot of horses already signed up, but still looking pretty much for all comers, including top runners, back of the pack, first timers, everyone.  I have about 30 horses signed up and room for another 20 or so.

 

From the riders standpoint, you'll be getting back about $1200-1400 in free labwork, a more detailed workup on how your horse is really doing metabolically than you'd be able to otherwise get outside of a research lab facility.  We'll be weighing horse's for weight loss at four points along the trail (either the start, finish or at hour holds), plus drawing a minimal amount of blood to run complete CBCs, chem panels and some specialized chemistry.

 

All of this is specifically focused on finding out some pretty important things about endurance horses in general and your horse in particular, such as:

 

1) Are the current vetting parameters really picking out the horses on the edge, and if not, what has to change to be able to find the horses in trouble?

 

2) Do differences in body size of horse or rider, height, breed, color, sex or condition score make any difference in how the horse is doing metabolically?

 

3) Are there chemical differences (ie, magnesium deficiencies) to be found in horses that 'normally' act nervous and more excited at rides (ie, screaming for his buddy) and do those horses have a higher incidence of metabolic problems?

 

4) What changes occurred prior to any incidences of tying up, colic, cramps, etc?  Example, was the horse dehydrated, electrolyte imbalanced, high enzymes, selenium deficiencies?

 

5)  How well are horses able to recover in the 12 hours after the finish?  Are we significantly risking their health by asking them to stand in a trailer, or is this a relatively safe practice?

 

The bottom line to this project is What Can We Do To Keep Our Horses Off IVs. We're not testing commercial products, selling anything or gathering information to make Thoroughbreds run faster.  We're just trying to figure out what makes **our** endurance horses stay healthy.  It's getting tremendous support and backing from AERC, WSTF, the BOD, the vet committee and the Chiron Foundation that is providing the funding.  Purina Mills has promised a free bag of feed to everyone that participates as well.  All we need now is the support of the riders this weekend.

 

For those who have horses that didn't like stepping on the scales at Swanton last year, we think we've solved that problem by putting astroturf on the scale platform (the horses seem to like that alot better).  Our vets are good, and quick, and don't upset the horses.  We'll catch you at holds where you have some down time so we won't delay your departure from checks.

 

If anyone is interested and hasn't already signed up, just come see us on Friday near the vetting area at Robie Park.  I'll be around until tomorrow morning, Barney will be at the barbecue on Wednesday night for questions.  We'll have a rider survey form available Friday, at the barbecue and from me by email later this afternoon to tell us a little something about you and your horse.

 

Thanks for reading, and to those that have already signed up.  See y'all at Robie.

 

Susan Garlinghouse