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I'm startled that you're startled.  This just goes to show that we live in
completely different worlds when it comes to regions.  Wasn't it the Spring
Biltmore ride of 2002 when over 20 horses were on fluids?  Someone with a
better memory, please, correct me if I'm wrong, but, I do remember talking
to one of the vets present at that ride and he said his truck would not have
held all the fluids that they ended up using at that particular ride.

As I remember the weather wasn't all that hot, but it was raining, so, the
humidity was close to 100 percent.  Trails were sloppy, muddy, and nobody
wanted to quit with the Rider Option tag tattoo'd across their forehead.  No
horses were lost at that ride but seeing all those horses on bags would have
freaked quite a few folks out completely.  Especially, someone as easily
startled as Kat.

The thing is, I never saw any written report on all of this.  I heard it
from credible sources right after that ride, but, I'm not sure we really do
report this sort of thing openly so other riders can read about it.  My
guess is some of those horses on IV's after the ride even got completions so
the metabolic pulls won't show the number of horses that were treated. I
know that the Ride Vet does report to AERC on how many horses were treated
at their ride but, does that information get published anywhere? I do think
this kind of information should be passed on to others; part of learning,
educating, and evaluation.  And, I truly hope that the Welfare of the Horse
Committee eventually starts doing exactly that.

cya,
Howard




----- Original Message -----
From: "k s swigart" <katswig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 12:22 PM
Subject: [RC] More Regional Differences?


> 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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