Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

RE: [RC] Taking horses to higher elevations - Carolyn Burgess

I disagree. There is a huge difference in the amount
of oxygen available at 8000-10000 feet versus sea
level.  Those of us (animals and humans) who live at
sea level have less red blood cells than those who
live at higher levels.  Even in good shape, you will
suffer from oxygen deprivation, which will show in
several different ways.  If you are in really good
shape, you might just breath alot heavier (which is
what I did when I went from sea level to 5500 on
vacation and went horseback riding on a borrowed
horse.

You may be acclimated because it sounds like you ride
at the higher elevation frequently.  On that same
vacation we climbed to about 9000 and started to run
up and down a hill to sled in the snow.  I started to
get lighted headed and got a headache.  

Carolyn Burgess

--- "Dean A. Conti" <dean@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Kristi,

An elevation of 8000'-10000' shouldn't present much
of a problem for a fit
horse (and human). Will you be at that elevation all
day, every day, or will
you come back down for each night? We live at 500'
near Seattle and ride at
7000'+ and have never noticed any problems. In my
mountain climbing at
12000'-13000' I have never experienced any altitude
sickness, which
typically sets in at even higher elevations. Slowing
down is definitely in
order, however, to give the system more time to
process more volume of less
dense air.

See this link for more ideas:

www.horse-sense.org/archives/20041219113232.phtml

Dean
 

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Kristi Schaaf
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 11:38 AM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] Taking horses to higher elevations

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. 
Kristi iluvdez at yahoo dot com   





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=