ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] Panting & Heat
[endurance] Panting & Heat
Kim Fuess (k2228554@mall.themall.net)
Fri, 7 Jun 1996 15:23:01 GMT
I have read with interest the comments and would like to give you my
personal experience with panting and closing one nostril. I used this at
the last 50 mile race I did at the last vet check not to fool the vet but to
force the horse to take deeper breaths. It worked and my horse started
taking deeper breaths and kept taking them. I didn't do this during the vet
examination but for P&R and the horse's respiration stayed down. The horse
looked great in all other areas and was eating and drinking well. There was
no shade at this vet check and it was hot and humid and we were running out
of ice water. I don't think it would have helped this horse to sit in the
vet check with the sun beating down on him for another 20 minutes because
his respiration was high. He went on to win 1st place and BC also, so
obviously the horse wasn't having metabolic problems.
There's nothing wrong with using "tricks" if you are able to make an
honest evaluation of the horse you are riding.
By the way, thank you to whoever posted the suggestion of using ice
water with a scraper (to get the warm water off) as a means of cooling. It
worked great! After the ride, the vet at that check told me the several of
the horses that came in after the first 3 or 4 had a harder time recovering
because their riders/crews were not as aggressive with their cooling methods
and the horses took longer to recover.
Kim