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RE: [RC] Taking horses to higher elevations - heidi

Because I LOVE to plan trips (I should have been a
travel agent), I'm already in the process of planning
a major horse trip to the mountains for next fall.
Does anyone have any info to share on the problems
with taking flat-lander horses to the mountains? We're
talking going from my house at under 1,000 feet above
sea level to 8-10,000 feet. It seems that I read a
post on ridecamp awhile back that mentioned that you
either need to take them up and do your ride and get
back down, or you need to acclimate them slowly before
riding in upper elevations. We plan to be 'in the
mountains' for approx 7 or 8 days. Anyone have any
info on how/when to ride while up there in no-oxygen
land? We'll condition the best we can with the hills
we have, so the actual climbing isn't as much of a
concern as elevation sickness. 

It takes about 3 weeks to change oxygen uptake.  But horses have a
built-in adaptation, since they have a large reserve of red blood cells
in their spleens.  They can simply increase the number of RBCs
circulating to gain the oxygen uptake they need while adapting.

So the posters who have suggested that you need not worry about your
horses are absolutely right.  You are more apt to "feel" the elevation
than they are.

Heidi 


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