ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Re[2]: [endurance] heart rates & quilty (fwd)

Re: Re[2]: [endurance] heart rates & quilty (fwd)

Joe Long (jlong@hiwaay.net)
Fri, 1 Dec 1995 00:45:47 -500

> From: "LYNN M. Crespo" <lynn@alpha.acast.nova.edu>

> In actuality respiration rate is key to maintaining the pH of the body.
> The 2 main systems by which acid-base balance is maintained in the body
> is through the kidneys and the lungs.

<snip>

I certainly won't challenge your medical credentials, but the
experience of thousands of endurance horses over hundreds of
thousands of miles of rides indicates that maintaining Ph balance is
NOT the reason horses pant.

The same horse that "pants" on a hot humid ride will have low
respiration a week later (or earlier) if the humidity is low. If you
do not cool a panting horse, he continues to pant. If you cool him,
his respiration drops.

On hot and humid rides where respiration is not counted, I prefer to
cool my horse gradually. I have encountered rides where your
respiration had to be down to a fixed number to clear the check (or
have your hold time begin); on those rides, I cooled Kahlil as
quickly as I could. With faster cooling, his respiration dropped
more quickly. This is true of every panting horse that I have ever
seen.

I once attended a Midwest Region ride in July. Their rules required
a horse to meet a 56 respiration within 20 minutes or he was pulled
-- no exceptions. The vet had no discretion to waive the rule. At
the last vet check before the finish, after 18 minutes Kahlil had
dropped from around 100 down to about 70 (it was a very hot and
humid day). If he didn't reach 56 in another two minutes, we were
going to be pulled, period, even though there was nothing wrong with
him.

I went to my ice chest and got a handful of ice, lifted his tail, and
pushed the ice up his anus. Someone asked the ride vet why I was
doing that, and the vet said "He's bringing his respiration down."
They asked if that was legal, and he said "There's no rule against it."

Within a minute, Kahlil's respiration had dropped and we passed the
check with flying colors, and went on to finish just fine, just as we
did on a hundred other humid rides.

Of course, high respiration CAN be due to a metabolic problem, but
then there will be other corroborating signs. A good ride vet will
always look at the respiration, it's quality as well as its rate.
But, to state that high respiration is always a sign of a problem,
or even that is very often a sign of a problem, is just plain wrong.
At least in humid conditions, high respiration should never be used
by itself to hold or pull a horse.

-- 

Joe Long Rainbow Connection Arabians PC/LAN Manager home of Kahlil Khai Calhoun Community College AERC Hall of Fame horse jlong@hiwaay.net 11,475 miles completed