Re: [RC] [RC] animals and smoke inhalation - Beth Walker
What about horses that aren't showing any signs of problems (feels fine, wants to rip around, no coughing)? ?Should I still give him a month off ? ? Do I just assume that the airways are irritated, even without any coughing or other symptoms?
Most of the folks at my ranch think I'm being overly cautious, since I haven't done anything but hand walk Caisson, or get on and just walk for about 20 minutes. ?I've only turned him out in the round pens, since he doesn't ?tear around in those.
The smoke here didn't get really bad, but there is still a haze in the air, and at the worst of it, some of the people felt some tightness in their chests. ?I wasn't going to do any work around the ranch until the haze cleared. ?I had been thinking of going to the mountains this coming weekend and doing some training, but now I'm not so sure. ??
If I need to give him a month off - so be it - we can work on his accepting the bit at a walk, and I will pass on actual lessons until next month, since there is trotting in those.
On Oct 29, 2007, at 9:42 AM, Maryanne Gabbani wrote:
What would you recommend after a day long sandstorm, Susan? I realise that there still aren't that many places in the US that have to deal with them...yet...but the way things are going, who knows?? We get days when no one? would work the horses because of the sand/dust, but we are still breathing it. There are no local protocols.
Since the topic has arisen about the So Cal wildfires, for those that were in the affected fire areas, and/or those that were subjected to the extremely smoky air quality conditions, may I suggest that owners be really generous about giving these horses time off to recover before asking them for vigorous exercise again.? Performance horses REALLY depend on a healthy respiratory system, and the effects of smoke can take 4-6 weeks to heal, depending on the exposure.? If stressed (and my personal opinion of 'stressed' would be exercise that would make them break a sweat) while the respiratory tissues are still irritated, the results can be permanent injury and decrease in performance and health.? Same goes for humans, dogs, etc.? ?Animals with respiratory irritation are also more prone to secondary bacterial infections, so something else to consider.
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Just a thought that for those that got a good dose of the smoke (and if you live in So Cal, then didn't we all), don't be in a hurry to get back to conditioning and hard exercise.? A thousand or so extra units of vitamin E for a 1000 lb horse, or any good blend of antioxidants for a few weeks wouldn't be a bad idea, either.? If any animal seems to be having difficulty breathing, coughing, is running a fever or otherwise seems sick, get some veterinary help.? My hospital is just now unloading its share of animals recovering from varying degrees of smoke inhalation this past week (God bless steroids and oxygen).
