On Jun 27, 10:46am, Truman Prevatt wrote:
> Subject: Re: Castle Rock 50 (long, with questions)
> I believe the horses in the East have an advantage in handling adverse heat
> conditions because they are exposed to it and train in it. When the ROC
> was held at LBL (Kentucky) it took its toll on the horses not used to the
> heat/humidity.
Yeah, and I had indications several weeks earlier, on a training ride,
that Shatirr was going to have trouble in humid/hot conditions when my
HRM consistantly jumped 20 to 40 beats over his normal pulse at that location
in hot but dry conditions.
> My persoanl belief is that for hot rides it is only going to get hotter as
> the day goes on, so I tend to make time when I can - early, in the shade,
> etc. However, the best time is not the first hour. While it is cooler at
> that time the humidity is the higest. Usually about an hour after the ride
> starts seems to be the best time.
This is a good strategy, but the AM trails had a lot of either pavement-hard
road or beach-like sand for footing; my suspicion is that only very focused
and observant riders were able to pull this strategy off. Jan Jeffers was
successful applying this strategy by jogging/ easy trotting in the morning,
moving steady but not seriously moving out. In retrospect, I would have ridden
a slow, steady trot whenever possible in the am, to try and get a bit ahead....
although that would have put me on the hardest hill, in the sun, during the
heat of the day. Hmmmm... I guess it would be a call as to which would work
best... The heat had dissapated slightly when I hit it at 3:00. But not much.
Like I said to Tommy earlier, I love this area, love the ride. I wish
Lud and Barbara would run it backwards, with the hills in the morning.
Although the hill out of the 1st vet leading to the Lockheed land and
the white shale ridges doesn't appeal to me in the afternoon either ;^).
Tough ride, all around.
> Under these conditions I am very concerned with the metabolic indicatiors,
> in particular gut sounds. If the gut shuts down, bad things can happen.
> So I question the vet about the gut sounds. Since this is a somewhat
> subjective measure, I will check them myself after the ckeck and again
> before I go back out if the vet doesn't say an "A". While I have not had
> colic at a ride, I would try to get the horse to drink and drink and drink,
> assuming she would. If I could I would send for help and start walking
> slowly. I'd also check the gut sounds (probably none) and if the horse
> showed interest in eatting I let her eat.
This is good info... I used to ride with a 1 gal baggie of dry bran mash
in case of emergencies, and I'm going to restart it. I use to put enough
bran and crimped oats in a zip-lock bag so that one large water bottle
would make a wet emergency-mash. I'd carry a total of about 1 scoop.
And I'm going back to riding with my stethescope, maybe even buying a
better one. I have never had this type of problem, and was a bit careless
about monitoring gut sounds. I probably tend to over-rely on my HRM to give
me feedback, and his pulse and respiration were great.
<snip>
> the amount the horse loses. I have had great success with endurolytes.
> Misty seems to recover much better since I started using endurolytes. I
> used a home made mixture before. I give about an ounce (35 mm film can
> full) at every vet check. Under hot/humid conditions I will go up to
> double that amount. This is assuming she is drinking well.
Do you give them dry? I have just dumped dry electrolytes into Shatirr
before (then hold his lips together while chanting the much hated phrase
"NO Spitting!" over and over, and maybe wiggling a finger on his tongue,
in the bit location, to stimulate swallowing), but worried that this dry
salty stuff on his tongue may discourage eating and drinking later...
He really likes the molassas-tube types, and will even let me "administer"
them while mounted.
Kerry Ridgeway commented that the mixture I was using was a bit thin for
endurance as well, and I was going to switch over to his mixture (after
finding dolomite at $5.00 for 50 pounds at the hardware store - it's also
used for marking lines on soccer fields, arrows on endurance rides etc. -
the price is about $.12 per ounce of home-made electrolytes) but don't
like to change things before a ride. Home-mixes are really messy when
mixed with molassas for tubing too. I will try the Endurolytes.
Oh and regarding a previous "discussion" about dousing the whole horse
with water (butt and all), Kerry's comment was that this is like everything
else; it depends! It depends on the temp, humidity, wind and on the horses
constitution. Some horses (like Shatirr) chill easily, others can tolerate
dousing with cold water year 'round. While I didn't exactly throw icy water
on Shatirrs butt (particularly not being 6 miles back in the boonies and
never having done it before), because of the high humidity, I did give him
a wet wiping down over those larger muscles untill the skin temperture
dropped to what I percieved to be normal. It did seem to cool him off
faster, but it's something I intend to remain cautious about.
I get into plenty of trouble with this horse even when I am cautious!
Talk to you later! Linda
>-- End of excerpt from Truman Prevatt