Re: [RC] More Regional Differences? - Truman Prevatt
I think at the Tevis a couple years ago there was a high treatment
rate. In any region if the conditions turn hot and humid, you will can
see a large number of treatments. In the semi arid areas this doesn't
happen all that often but in the SE it can happen frequently. I think
Barbara had this happen to her at the Castle Rock ride a few years ago.
Considering it can take upwards to 80 liters to treat a horse with 20
to 40 probably common, it only takes a few crashes to run through a lot
of fluids.
Most rides in the SE have very few if any. At the GERA ride this year
it was very hot and humid, but no horses treated. Today in this region
we have the fortune to have several very good vets that are normally
called on to provide treatment. Most of the time they bring sufficient
supplies. But even then they can run out if the days turns worse than
expected, it rains and the trail get muddy, etc. This is not normally a
serious problem since fluids can be obtained from large vet clinic. It
just means that someone spends a lot of time on the road.
You can be a good equine vet and know how to treat a horse but still
not be familiar with what you might see at an endurance ride. For
example my vet (the one I referred to) is on staff at one of the
premiere equine clinics in country, Peterson Smith in Ocala and is
extremely component. She, however, was not aware of exactly what to
expect at an endurance ride. As I stated it wasn't a big deal since
Peterson Smith was an hour away and UF was an hour and 1/2 away.
Truman
k s swigart wrote:
Truman said:
Several years ago at one of my rides I used my own vet
as the treatment vet. She was a good vet and had vetted
one endurance ride prior but had little experience in what
to expect at a ride. Of course she didn't bring enough
fluids...
I must confess to being startled by this statement,
especially the "of course" part. Since for me, there is no
"of course" about it. Certainly, if I were managing an
endurance ride and were using a treatment vet that didn't
already have experience with the sport and they asked me if
there were anythings that they ought to bring, I would tell
them that they ought to bring more than their stock supply
of IV fluids "just in case."
However, I would be very surprised if, even if I hadn't done
so, that the vet would use up his normal supply. I just
don't see all that many horses being treated with IV fluids
at the rides I go to, so unless they are a bunch of horses
hiding behind trailers that are being given fluids that I
don't know about, the chances of running out of fluids in
these parts is about as rare as hens teeth.
So, am I living in a fantasy land and am just unaware of the
horses being treated at the endurance rides I go to; or this
another one of those "regional differences" in which horses
in the SE (and the other regions that I don't ride in) are
being treated with way more fluids than those out here?
Question for the vets:
a) How much fluids do you bring to a ride?
b) How much fluids do you usually use?
and
c) How much fluids do you give to the horse before you say
"this is enough for the horse to recover on its own?" or
alternatively "This horse needs way more but I have given it
enough for the horse to be sufficiently stable to transport
to a facility that is better equiped to deal with such a
compromised horse?"
It seems to me that if the UF is close enough to go pick up
more fluids, that it is also close enough to take horses
that need that much fluids (a place, I might add, that they
are more likely to have all the facilities needed to best
determine exactly what the horse needs, which may not be
just fluids).
Maybe it is the trained EMT in me ("stablize and transport")
that says that treatment vets at endurance rides are not
supposed to "fix" the problems that horses might encounter
at a ride, they just need to be able to stabilize them well
enough so that they can be taken off-site (which may be
home, but is probably the hospital if the condition is
serious enough) where they can be treated properly in order
to properly recover.
Am I missing something here? The last thing in the world
that I would expect a treatment vet to run out of at an
endurance ride is IV fluids, my home vet carries enough
fluids around with him on a regular basis (just for the
things that he might encounter in the field treating horses
that never leave home) that he would have enough with him to
have treated every horse that I have ever seen treated with
IV fluids at an endurance ride.
And yet Truman says "Of course, she didn't bring enough
fluids."
kat
Orange County, Calif.
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