Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Protecting Horses! (Malibu Ride)

On Tue, 18 Jun 2002 16:41:15 EDT, KathyZ1@xxxxxxx wrote:

>We neophytes were told (by the vets) that inversion was dangerous.  Is this 
>true?  Honest question here.  (I'm starting to get private emails about my 
>postings --surprise-surprise-- >vbg<).  So I want everyone to know that my 
>questions are simple, honest ones, sans rancour.
>The 'panters' seemed to have higher heart rates as a general rule.  Usually 
>over 20.  I don't remember seeing any panters pulsing in at 15 or below.  
>This only among the horses that I personally saw and dealt with, of course.
>Can panting be normal then??

Let me guess -- this ride was in a dry climate?  You see more
"panters" in humid climates than dry climates, due to the higher heat
stress.  

I believe many good endurance horses learn to pant, and are better
endurance horses for doing so.  By panting they are cooling themselves
more efficiently while conserving bodily fluids and electrolytes.
"Inversion" is only a danger sign if the breathing is deep as well as
rapid, and there are other signs of trouble.

A fit endurance horse who pants will not have a higher heart rate.

Kahlil didn't pant when he began competing, but he soon learned to do
so.  The fabulous Morgan horse Lain (in the Southeast) sometimes left
vet checks, returning to the trail, with his respiration *still* over
100!  Lain completed over 8,000 miles and has had a long and healthy
retirement.

There was a time when I avoided certain rides if the weather was hot,
because they had an arbitrary respiration requirement.  I considered
it asinine to penalize the superior horses for doing what helped make
them superior!

BTW, I always carried a digital thermometer on hot, humid rides and
used it.  I was not concerned unless Kahlil's anal temperature
exceeded 105 degrees, but I would not leave a vet check until it was
down below 103 degrees, even if the officials cleared me to go.

A little story:  I was at a hot, humid ride in the Midwest Region.
They had a rule that respiration had to be down to an arbitrary number
within 20 minutes of arrival, or you were pulled.  No options, no
discretion on the part of the vet, you were pulled, end of story.
Well, at the last vet check before the finish Kahlil was still panting
after 18 minutes.  We were two minutes away from elimination.  So I
took a handfull of ice out of my ice chest, lifted his tail, and
pushed the ice up his anus.  At 20 minutes he was taking nice, slow
breaths.

The vet watched me do this.  Someone asked him "What's he doing that
for?" and the vet told her "He's bringing his horse's respiration
down."

That was the only time I ever needed to use the "ice-up-the-butt"
trick (thanks, Matthew Mackay-Smith), but it saved our ride that day.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com


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