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[RC] FW: [So_Cal_Endurance] My horse is just fine - Catfish Daniels




From: "Catfish Daniels" <CatfishDaniels@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: So_Cal_Endurance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: So_Cal_Endurance@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [So_Cal_Endurance] My horse is just fine
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:40:51 -0700

Hi:
Thanks to all of you who wrote me in concern of my little mare Romie who got
pulled at Deadwood. My horse is doing great - and I thought I'd share our
little story:

Romie had been doing incredibly well all day.  Everything good I had hoped
for during our months of preparation, had gone as wished - and then some.
She behaved like a dream horse at the start - and tackled the trail like a
seasoned Tevis horse.  I can't describe how proud I was of her.  When she
had a chance to drink or eat, she'd do so very eagerly - and all day we had
A's on our vet card.  When we arrived at Last Chance (about 50 miles), we
received the most incredible verbal comments from one of the vets.  Talking
about icing on the cake - it was awesome!!  We pranced out of there and
headed into the first big canyon down to the river.  I jogged down the
canyon and on the bottom, Romie drank a ton, joined me for a quick dip in
the river, and then we walked up the other side.  Romie kind of forgot how
to tail, so I was leading her on foot - which - nearly killed me.  WOW what
a hill.

Anyway, when we got up to the top to Devil's thumb, she ate a bit and drank
a ton. At Deadwood (Vet check one mile after coming out of the Canyon) we
walked straight to the vet for a courtesy P&R. She was at 48 and we decided
to do the whole vet check since we had met criteria. She had a couple of
B's, the rest (specially on hydration) all A's, but a "C" on gut sounds. I
figured it was because we went straight to the vet before even visiting the
hay that was spread out for the horses. At Deadwood was no hold and we had
the green light to go. Romie looked energetic and ready to go.

Knowing that the 2nd Canyon lied ahead of us, and being aware that I was way
ahead of the cut-off time, I decided to hang around to let Romie eat and
improve her gut sounds before heading into the canyon towards Michigan
Bluff. At that time, Romie did something I was very familiar with - she
decided to rest up and take a nap. She was not interested in any food -
something she does when she's very tired. Once she snaps out of it, she
usually then eats very well. Eventually a different vet came over and said
that he had noticed my horse not eating, and after further checking her very
quiet gut sounds, he became very concerned. Romie at that time was still
very well hydrated and her pulse was still at 48.

The vet, with all good intentions, was alarmed about her not eating and
suggested to pull her, evacuate her immediately and trailer her straight to
Auburn to a treatment vet, rather than unloading at Forest Hill. It scared
the crap out of me - thinking that something was seriously wrong with
Romie...and I wasn't even seing it!! He injected her with Banamine. When I
walked Romie to the trailer to be evacuated, she literally drug me there.
It was very odd. She had lots of bounce in her step and I was working hard
in keeping up with her pace of walk. Wouldn't you know, at that time she
spread her legs, and peed clear yellow pee and started diving into the
natural grass growing around her - back to the behavior she had all day
long.

I decided to unload her at Foresthill and a very nice treatment vet from UC
Davis examined Romie. Her gut sounds were back to normal, her hydration and
other criteria remained at excellent. We proceeded to do bloodwork, and the
results all came back perfectly normal.

Perhaps I should have been more clear to the vet, letting him know that
Romie sometimes won't eat no matter what's put in front of her during times
when she decides to rest.  I don't know if it was an unnecessary
overreactive pull by the vet - or if the vet made the right decision at the
perfectly right time.  The outcome of whatever it was, is that my horse
today looks like she hasn't even entered Tevis - full of energy and bounce.
And I'm very happy and content with that.  My number one goal is to return
with a healthy horse.  I accomplished that.  My second goal was to
finish....I'll work on that next year.

Thanks again for your concern - and Mel and Jacquy & Diane, thank you for being the
absolute best crew one could ever wish and hope for. You guys were amazing
- THANK YOU!!!

Catfish

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