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[RC] a little peeing problem - watch out (long) - Stagg_NewmanA horse not peeing can be a sign of serious problems so do be careful when this happens. One of hte worst experince I ever had with endurance riding was when I was crewing for Maggie Price at the ROC in 1999 at the Big Horn. Her horse Tina who had top tenned the ROC the previous couple of years as well as a top ten at the World's in '98 with a relatively heavy Italian rider to whom Maggie had loaned the horse did not pee all day. At the last couple of check points the horse would fall asleep during the vet check but then trot out fine and the recoveries were fairly good. We talked to the vets about it. They had been watching the horses through binolculars on trail and Tina looked better than most. A lot of the horses were looking flat at the checks and the speculation was it was due to altitude (half of the ride was up over 9000 feet I believe). Maggie felt the horse was not quite right and kept slowing down and finished well back in the pack. The horse came across the finish line at a good looking trot as I remember. Just after the finish line as I was walking the horse over for crewing the horse started to get shakey. I called for help and the vets started aggressive treatment. Dr. Jeannie Waldron discovered that the bladder was really swollen and put in a catheter which released a flood. Horse was put on heavy fluids. The horse was up and down all night. At one point it looked grim but the horse pulled through. After several weeks at a nearby clinic Tina was fully recovered and went home. She later went on do more competitive trail riding and a little bit of endurance and to make some nice babies. Now what did happen that day. Turns out Tina was part of an expermental use of adminstering calcitrol (sp?) as part of a controlled experiment by a vet from Ohio State as I remember. Calcitrol is a form of calcium that was suppose to be absorbed very quickly. So there was blood work done at each vet check. Tina's blood work was essentially the same at each check as the Val Kanavy's horse that was on the same program and finished either 3rd or 4th and was reserve BC. The only difference was Tina had very low calcium readings (if my memory is correct???) So Tina was not suffering from exhausted horse syndrome or dehydration. Best guess is something, perhaps the low calcium, had cause a spasm of the uretha and she could not urninate. So urine was backing up into the system causing a uric (sp?) toxin of the system. So her brain was basically being poisoned which was causing the symptoms we saw. We were fortunate that day that Tina was able to make a full recovery. So remember the EDPP, eating, drinking, peeing and pooping. In this case the horse did not pee all day and at the latter checks in retrospect we realized was not showing proper interest in eating. So she was trying to tell us something was not right. Although this occurred 15 years ago when we knew far less, similar problems could still occur. So if a horse is not peeing right, take this as a warning sign and be careful. +---------------------------------------------------------+ This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation. +---------------------------------------------------------+ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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