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Norco Ride Heat Stroke



>>>I have done three NATRC rides, about 1000 miles of ECTRA and 4000
miles ofAERC.  I have never, ever seen endurance horses convulsing from
heat stroke.

Same here....well sorta same, you've got more miles than I have. >g<  One
thing riders who aren't used to humidity need to watch for is
simply...how hot does your horse feel to the touch?  Stand in the shade
at a creek, sponge your horse, then lay your hand on his skin...is there
a lot of heat coming from deep down inside?  You cannot allow that core
temperature to get that high.  Stay in the shade, keep putting the water
on until the horse quits feeling like a source of heat.  The humidity
keeps the sweat from doing its job.  There's no evaporation.  Water on
the horse doesn't count if it just sits there. Take you hand as a
squeegie and swipe the hot water off, then put more on.  If you aren't
going to have access to water for cooling, don't get that core
temperature up there in the first place!  You really *can* walk up that
ridge.

At the Summer Breeze ride it was incredibly hot and humid, but there was
lots of cool water so we were able to keep a little bit of a pace up. 
Then, I let Kaboot climb a ridge and break into a trot a couple of times.
 No faster than before, but when we got up on the ridge there was no
water to get his temp back down.  It never went down again...and it was
another hour or so before we finished.  There was just no way to get it
down even if we walked.  If you get hit with one of these hot humid days.
 Respect it.  Ride to complete, and if you start feeling stupid and
wanting to go faster get off and jog awhile.

Angie
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