Ridecamp: [RC] Norco Riverdance Ride

Slow news day, so I'll jump in. I volunteered at
the Norco Riverdance Ride yesterday as a
pulse-taker, spending most of the morning at the
first vet check, where 151 horses on the two rides
(90 on the LD) were coming through, and later at
the 25 finish.

Among these were lots of horses doing their first
endurance ride and quite a few people new to the
sport as well.

Most, if not all, of the riders I encountered were
extremely polite, relatively unhurried and patient
during the few backups. RM Lynne Glazer instituted
a true "gate" box veterinary checkpoint which I
have not seen used in Pacific South region. This
meant no more horses milling around stock tanks
being furiously sponged amid cries of "P&R!!!" We
did offer courtesy checks for anyone requesting
them, though.

The day was overcast, exeptionally hot (100
degrees+) and seriously humid. Barbara Thomas's
excellent article on managing and training horses
in hot, humid conditions was included in the rider
packets. I felt like I was back in Maryland. :-)

As many native Westerners learned in this "wet
lab', the loss of evaporative cooling wrought by
humidity, even at temperatures around 70 degrees,
can cause metabolic mayhem to horses not prepared
for such conditions. The horse only has his head
and neck for cooling and without evaporation, the
amount of muscle heat building up is much more
than it would be for humans (our bare skin is a
much better convector of heat).

As might be expected under these conditions, many
horses' pulses were "hanging" in the mid-to-high
sixties (parameters were 60 for the 50-milers and
54 for the 25s) or spiking above 60. Here are a
few tips that I offered to newcomers to help their
horses -- especially larger, thicker or
heavier-coated horses -- recover:

1) lower the head (if necessary, stoop in front of
the horse if you can do so safely and invite his
head down; and/or gently squeeze the crest with
your hands [called Inch Worm in TTouch]). These
two factors alone caused many horses to reach
parameters within seconds (as documented with
Suzie Kelley's Equi Pulz which she nicknamed the
Cat's Meow)

2) take off the saddle and pad or at the very
least, loosen the girth

3) move large volumes of COLD water over the large
veins inside the front legs and the jugular veins
on either side of the neck

4) scrape off water dumped on the body as the core
body temperature will quickly heat it up and
reinsulate the horse.

Despite the difficult conditions, I didn't see a
lot of pulls and I didn't see a single horse being
treated, although I think one or two may have
been.

Lynne, Julie et al did their usual fantabulous job
of managing this unique ride.

It's 100+ again today here in Northern San Diego
County but much drier. Hoping it will cool off a
bit tomorrow. See you on the trail!

Bobbie&Perle
www.thewaywewin.net





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