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RE: [RC] Toxic iron levels - Mcgann, Barbara"Please Reply to: Kathleen Ferguson kathleenmarie@xxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== My new mare tied up last month. She is 5 1/2 and in arena training with light trail riding on the weekends. When she tied up she was being lunged to warm her up for her daily lesson. She got a bit silly on the lunge line and "blew" and galloped a bit but not unlike anything she had done in the past. We had the vet pull blood before she was treated for the tie up (she recovered fine and is back in training). When her blood work came back everything was normal except her iron levels which were sky high (normal .7 to 1.4 and she was 2.6) My vet is scratching her head trying to figure out why her iron is so high and how this is related to the tie up." Kathy, I don't think your tie-up had anything to do with iron levels being high. Back in the 70's, we used to bloodtest our horses and look at cell pack and RBC's. If they were low, the vet would have us feed iron supplements. We had one mare that kept testing low over and over again, so we kept increasing the dosage of iron supplement. The vet was shaking his head over that, too...we were feeding her 6 times the recommended dose and yet her blood values were coming back low. What I did notice however was that when I would ride her, for the first 4-5 miles she was higher than a kite. Couldn't keep 4 feet on the ground; then, all of a sudden, she would go from a hugh trot to a slow walk, with her head practically on the ground. Like she was totally exhausted. After walking a ways, she would all of a sudden perk up and charge for a ways, then almost to a stop again. We read an article in Equus that explained it. With the iron overdose, she was storing the excess in her spleen, and then when ridden, the body would call for it and the iron would be released in a large amount, making her blood thicken suddenly. After she would walk a ways, it would reverse into storage mode and she'd feel better. We eventually proved this by taking her to the vet, taking a blood test resting; and then working her briskly in the arena for 1/2 hour and then retesting the blood. The iron count would jump dramatically, as well as the RBC's, etc. So, if your mare had an iron overload, she would be very excitable, followed by extreme exhaustion symptoms. Not tie up or cramping muscle symptoms. Hope this helps. Barb McGann =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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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