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Re: [RC] colic at rides--LONG--part 3 - heidi

Thank you, Heidi for taking the time to provide this information to the
list.

    ..."it is the gut that goes first when they are overridden."
    THEN, an elevated pulse?
    Is there any indication to, say, the average rider, that the gut is
in
trouble...OTHER THAN gut sounds/motility?
    Do all horses in trouble (guts, that is) present the same?


No, not all horses in trouble present the same.

In the case of a flaccid gut that is prime for a twist, you won't get any
elevation in pulse until it is too late.  When the pulse goes up, it is
either a sign of pain or of an increased demand for circulation.  The
latter is usually a mild elevation in endurance horses, and goes with
general fatigue--we don't see huge oxygen debts that leave a horse really
pumping.  So if we see a huge increase, the horse is really hurting
somewhere, usually. But it may be several hours after the ride before a
damaged gut hurts enough to elevate the pulse.  And by then it is too
late.

Ironically, the gas colics are often quite painful, and may cause a
temporary elevation in pulse, even though they are probably the least
deadly colic occurrence we see.

Lack of motility is indeed an issue--but not the only one.  (I had a horse
with a mild gas colic at a ride this year--his gut was hypermotile--TOO
active--and we waited the problem out by spending an extra 20-30 minutes
at a vet check before the situation resolved and I opted to continue
slowly.  I'm still not sure if it was the flake of alfalfa  he swiped from
his buddy the check before or the bee stings he got earlier in the day, or
both.)  A subtle decrease in appetite or a refusal to eat a
normally-well-liked food can be a big red flag.  Discomfort on eating or
drinking is a red flag.  The communication from the horse may be as subtle
as an odd posture, a reluctance to move, an alteration in gait, or just
being dull.  But the riders that are really tuned to their horses can
usually "hear" them.  Even a really game horse that will run until he dies
will tell you at some point that he isn't having fun and that he is only
doing it because it is his job.

It all goes back to the point that has been made about looking at the
WHOLE horse.  There is no ONE tool that will tell us the horse is in
trouble.  And sometimes the sum of the whole horse is not the same as the
sum of the little numbers we generate.  Both good riders and good ride
vets will stand back and look at the WHOLE horse, in view of the little
numbers, and sometimes make the "no go" decision even though there is
nothing specific in the numbers that points to a problem.  If the numbers
were all that mattered, we wouldn't need ride vets at all--we could just
get little machines to record all the parameters and add them up.  But in
the end, one still has to "talk" with the horse about it, and make a
decision based upon one's best judgment.

Heidi



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