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RE: [RC] Thumps - heidiSusan or Heidi, it's your job to correct me if I'm wrong here but I'm going to give it a try. The way I understand it, thumps is a symptom, like a red light on the dash of your car means something's out of whack. The horse has a nerve the "Phrenic nerve" that runs across the heart and goes to the left flank. When the horse's body becomes alkaline the nerve becomes hypersensitive so every time the heart beats the nerve fires and the left flank twitches. The horse's body becomes alkaline as a result of electrolyte embalance. One problem is that endurance horses become alkaline, but foals with diarhea become acidic. If you use the type of electrolytes that are made for sick foals then you are pushing your horse farther in the direction of alkaline...putting out a fire with gasoline. Increasing a horse's calcium intake can help guard against thumps. A good source is alfalfa hay. However, if you feed alfalfa every day or supplement calcium regularly you are keeping your horse from being a good utilizer of calcium. The trick is to not overdo it at home, then the boosted calcium during competition is better utilized by a body that's not used to having excessive amounts and wasting it. Yes, Angie, that's pretty much the short version. What happens is that under the wrong conditions, the myelin sheath around the phrenic nerve becomes permeable to electrolytes, and so each time there is an electrical discharge from a heartbeat, there is an electric potential on the nerve as well, and it "fires." It actually innervates the diaphragm (not the flank)--each time the diaphragm spasms, though, you can see the spasm in the flank. Sometimes other electrolytes are lacking--magnesium is an issue in some horses, and yes, calcium can be an issue. Different horses sometimes require different e-lyte regimens to avoid the problem. Other horses would drop dead long before they would ever thump. It's a very individual thing, and some will do it with very little provocation. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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