Shatirr and I managed to survive this weekend's Castle Rock (California)
50 mile ride, but it was a close call for poor Shatirr.
The ride started well, with rolling wooded hills and coastal vistas that
were a delight to ride. It was warm at the 6:00 start, and Stacey and
I both wore sleaveless t-shirts. Stacey is an old pro at this ride, and
explained how tough the afternoon leg was, so we planned to take it slow
and easy, because of the heat, and to shoot for just finishing.
This tough ride got tougher this year. The heat and a trail change that
switched the shady but steep afternoon knock-out hill to 2 less vertical
but longer and sunnyer climbs combined to give us a ride that many started
but _very_ few completed in good shape.
The 70 mile ride was called in the early afternoon.
As it stands now, out of 120+ starters, only 21 were given completions,
many were pulled, and the vet checks looked like equine ICU's with all
of the drips running and horses trying to roll.
The trail was very difficult (I've ridden the Western States trail; this is
tougher), with moderate hills in the morning, lots of either deep sand or
hard packed decomposed granite road. After lunch, super hot, steep hills,
including one 3 to 4 mi. climb that had lots of sun and no water untill you
were over the top and down a mile. I was later told that the temperture
was well over 100 (it was 110 at my place) with the humidity around 58%.
This is an incredible place to ride, and everyone running it is great. I
just wish it was do-able. It's always a very hard ride, but this year?
I love the ride, but it's not for me. If the tough hills were in the
morning, maybe. The only way I'd do it again is to ride the first 30 miles
and kiss-off the completion.
*******
The rest of this is my personal journey, with some questions. It's long,
as Shatirr had real problems, and you may want to skip it, but if you have
feedback, I'd love to hear it. The only real good lesson is that you can
have a horse that's in great condition, is going through vet checks great,
the pace can be slow as possible, and you can still end up in big trouble.
Shatirr's pulse stayed low throughout the morning, not going above 140 on
the hills, and hovering around 85 to 95 on the flat and gentle grades. He
was under 70 as soon as we'd stop. We had a rear shoe slip (lost all but
1 nail) early on, slipped on the old easyboot over the shoe and were off
again. At our pace, an easyboot is no big deal.
We walked straight into P&Rs at the 1st vet check with a pulse of 64 and
below criteria respiration, and got through the vetting with A's and a
B for impulsion. Shatirr was very eager the whole ride, and was in good
condition starting out; we were really having fun. Staceys' Porter,
Mr Macho, never stopped wanting more trail faster, but behaved himself
at our conservative pace.
We got to the 30 mile lunch check around 1:00 (definitely sticking to
plan and going slow). Stacey went right into the P&R and vet, and passed
easily, I stood Shatirr in the creek for a few minutes and ended up with 48
pulse and a very low respiration, and all A's except for the B impulsion
(a constant for Shatirr). He ate well and drank plenty of tepid water.
Out of lunch, we jogged the approx. 3 mi. flat creekside trail, (he wanted
to canter and felt great) stopping several times to scoop off and drink.
When we came to the first Killer Hill, an approx 4 mile assent with very
little "give" to it, I dismounted to walk the remainder of the ride (except
one short downhill spur) on foot. A lot of it was steep and in the sun.
There was a shockingly cold spring about a mile over the top of the hill,
and I scooped us _and_ a fellow rider (;^). We spent about 10 min. cooling
off, picked up a 70 miler, and resumed our walk. Shatirr was starting to
get slower, but this is the point that he usually behaves this way, so I'd
dismissed the warning. A mile down the hill we ran into Ellen McCrary (?)
who informed us that the 70 mile ride had been cancelled because of the
heat/humidity, and that they were advising 50 milers to head for the
camp/Swanton vet check unless they felt extremely good about finishing
the 2nd hot tough hill into the next vet. It was really late in the ride,
and we had a total of 1.5 hours of ride time to do the remaining 8 miles,
so I decided to just call it and started walking back to camp. Shatirr
looked tired at this point, and I didn't realise it, but he had started
to colic. I continued walking on alone.
As we walked the 2 miles back to the Swanton vet check, I realized that
something was definitely wrong. Shatirr acted like he wanted to pee,
but couldn't. He stretched, but didn't look crampy, so I just figured
he *was* stretching, something we do alot of at home and on rides. By
the time I hit the check though, I was calling for a vet, and Helen Harvey
helped me strip the tack off Shatirr, who was trying to roll.
He got tons of Banamene (I forget how many injections, I remember 5) was
tubed and oiled and was put on IV fluids (finally a double drip) for hours.
We got into the check at 4:30 or so, and by 7:30 he was still needing
banamene (and something else to stop the spasms I think) and still no real
gut sounds, still cramping and trying to collapse. He was definitely in
trouble... not making much positive progress.
With a prayer, we loaded him in the trailer, me yelling like a cattle drover
to get him moving, him staggering like a drunkin sailor, for the 1.5 hour
ride to Russ Petersons vet clinic/hospital at the Portola Valley Training
Center. After the first 10 minutes, the trailer got quiet, and I really had
to work hard not to loose it mentally. This horse IS my best friend, and
there wasn't any movement as I rounded turns going over the twisty mountain
roads... I started counting telephone poles.... aren't many in the mountains.
When I pulled into the clinic at 9:00, I couldn't look in the trailer (still
no movement...) untill I'd roused the Vet, Lisa. When I dropped down the feed
door, and Shatirr's head popped out, bright eyed with a "Hi!!! Boy, I feel
better! Where are we?" coherent look on his face, I practically passed out
from relief. He looked great compared to what he'd looked like at the camp!
Lisa got him on a drip in a video stall, he was ravenous, so we made him a
bucket and drew blood for tests. She checked him all nigh long, every 20
minutes. Need I say that I recommend the Star Clinic in Portola Valley
very highly?! Especially the Davis vet named Lisa!
The tests all came up perfictly normal. His hydration was good, electrolytes
were good, CPK - all of it looked great. His P&R's were never too high at
any point durring the ride of durring the colic. Dr. Lisa (my limited memory
for names gave out...) ran tests to check everything, and nothing was out
of the ordinary. He looked good. This is almost 5 hours after the onset though.
I'd really like to know if there is anything I could have done differently.
Many folks who "made time" in the morning got pulled for lameness. Us
pokey-types got caught in the heat of the day. Even Stacey and Porter
were denied a completion, and they looked good compared to everyone else.
I started using Equilytes at the Diablo Vista ride and they seemed to work
fine for Shatirr. Because of the heat, I had increased the dosage from 1/2
tube doses to 1 tube at the 1st check right before leaving and a second tube
before leaving the lunch stop. I have been told that up to a certain extent,
excess electrolytes end up in the urine and aren't a problem as long as the
horse is drinking well. I waited untill he'd filled up on food and water,
and he ate and drank well consistantly durring the ride.
I took lots of time to scoop him down, but in retrospect, I could have done
more of it.But not much more.
The vet at the clinic speculated that it may have been heat stroke.
Do you folks back east see this type of problem with the heat and humidity?
What other precautions do you take? Even seasoned riders with 40+ rides
without a pull, were getting pulled.
What's the best thing to do when a colic starts out on a trail like this?
My best call was to continue back to camp slowly. Thank god it was downhill.
Could the icy cold water at the top of the hill caused his colic, even
though we were only there 10 minutes, and continued moving afterwards??
Any insights would be appreciated!
Linda
P.S. This ride was _extremely_ well vetted and assisted, with all of the
vets and volunteers doing a great job at making the best of a terrible day.
One horse died on the trail in the morning, of a heart attack. These folks
were camped next to me, so I knew a bit about the mare, and knew the riders
friends. It was a 1st time horse that wouldn't be controlled, and did lots
of running away early on, and the rider was going to pull her at lunch, but
she collapsed about three miles from camp after being hand walked the last
6 or so miles.
My special thanks to Dr Robert Steere (Steele?) of Petaluma who spent hours
with Shatirr; he was everything I could have hoped for under the circumstances.
Dr Mike Tomlinson was there too, and kept a concerned eye on us and was great
support... Mike you give the spirit a lift just because you are who you are!
Helen Harvey, you were great! I know you would have been there for any horse,
but you were there for us and your attention was *very* appreciated!
Sigh....