Please keep in mind here that even for horses with
a low resting pulse, they are still "normal" at 40! NO, a horse with a
resting pulse of 22 is not appreciably "worse" with a pulse of 64 than one whose
resting pulse is 36 or 44.
As for the lowering of the pulse to 56--IMO this
should always be a veterinarian's option, but it needs to be used in extreme
circumstances where the pace REALLY needs to be slowed a bit due to extenuating
weather circumstances. As I've said in previous posts, 60 seems to be a
pretty pivotal number, below which horses tend to continue to recover and above
which enough of them tend to "hold" to be a concern. Which is why I'd like
to see 60 become a norm, but the option of 56 used for specifically the above
purposes.
I don't believe lowering the PC to
56 is the answer as it only measures the condition of the horse at certain
points. Not withstanding the CRI if your horse has a resting PR of 22 and you
come in to a VC at 64 your horse's circulatory system is operating almost 300%
above what it normally does. On the other hand if the resting PR is 48
and you go into the VC at 64 your horse is operating at 33% above
normal. If there is going to be a change in the PR
criteria I'd vote that rather than pick a fixed number it be based on a
percentage of the resting PR.
I haven't seen any analysis on RC of
things that could have caused the horses death. Specifically, what was
the temp/humidity ratio, are the deaths with only new riders or riders under
"n" miles. How many miles did the horse complete so far. What were
the hold times and how many holds? Without that type of data I believe talk
of changing anything is premature. Any death is tragic and when preventable
even more so, let's make sure a proper analysis is performed before any
changes are made so we treat the problem not the symptom.
On another
note: Lately rides I've been at rides where there are 40 min. holds.
These really provide the horse an opportunity to eat and relax, more
importantly it provides the rider and crew time to observe the horse without
the hectic pace a 30 min hold to watch for anything unusual.
