ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: [endurance] Thumps!!!! Need advice!
Re: [endurance] Thumps!!!! Need advice!
Chris & Ranae Procyk (procyk19@sgi.net)
Sat, 10 Aug 1996 21:22:04 -0400 (EDT)
At 04:56 PM 8/7/96 -0400, you wrote:
>OK, I've read all the info about Thumps in the archives, and the articles=
on
>the endurance homepage, but still have a lot of questions (and
>anxiety)....I'll try to make this "question"
>as brief as possible.
>
>Last week my husband and I took our horses camping at a state forest in the
>southern Ohio hills that we ride often. This was a pleasure trip, several
>friends with less conditioned horses came down to camp and ride with us for
>a day or two, thus we rode slowly, and
>took plenty of breaks. Both of our horses are (at least I thought they
>wjere) fit to ride the trails much faster than we did. They are=
lower-level
>distance horses (25, 30 & 2-day
>50 mile rides to date).
>
>The weather was good. Mid to upper 80's, fairly humid (50% or above), but
>we were riding primarily in the forest and not in the sun. There was not a
>breeze at all. I *forgot*
>to pack the electrolytes, but I thought it would be OK, because we were not
>exactly blitzing along.
>
>So, now that the scenerio has been set, here's the problem. We rode 15-20
>miles maximum each day, the third day we rode a pretty challenging 12-13
>miles; coming back into camp, and going back out on an evening ride of=
about
>7 miles - not that
>hard, one hill up, riding a ridge, one hill down, riding a hollow, then=
back
>into camp.
>
>Up until the last ride on the third day, everything had seemed fine. =
Redbud
>(my husband's horse) *does* sweat profusely, particularly when excited (he
>is very competitive, and being around strange horses really flips his=
switch
>- and each day we had a new group of new horses to "compete" with). There
>was plenty of
>water on the trail and he drank well all 3 days.
>
>His pulse had always been down to 44-48 within 10 minutes of coming into
>camp, and he seemed very energetic. Redbud's pulse was
>60 when we stopped in camp, he was breathing normally (I didn't count
>respirations, but I know he was breathing slowly, not panting or blowing at
>all). Charlie had taken a few extra minutes to cool in the creek nearby,
>sponging him off, and when he walked
>on in to camp, Redbud felt cool and dry. Anyway, at 10 minutes, he was
>still 60....I sponged him some more, but he just didn't drop. =20
>
>He acted perfectly normal, munching hay, good gut sounds, capillary refill
>time seemed instantaneous, he may have been a bit dehydrated. I kept
>checking his pulse, and after 45 minutes, it was still at 60, and I noticed
>a twitch in his left flank. :^0
>
>Thumps? This really scared me, as it is just something I have read about.
>I found a tube of electrolytes I hadn't used at a competitive ride, and=
gave
>that to him - within
>10 minutes of giving him the electrolytes, his pulse had dropped to 44.
>But, the "thumps" continued. He acted as if he noticed nothing was
>different. I had been walking him around letting him graze, if I hadn't
>seen the twitch, I wouldn't have known anything was wrong at all. It was
>only the left flank that was "thumping" -
>is this what thumps looks like? I was kicking myself because I didn't have
>any of my endurance or vet books with me (when I got home and read them, I
>was glad I didn't have them - each one said something different). I
>remembered something about Potassium and Lite salt, so I mixed some in
>applesauce and gave that to him
>also, about a =BD hour after the real electrolytes. All in all, the=
thumping
>went on for about an hour and a 1/2 - the last hour or so, I couldn't *see*
>the flank move, but could feel it.
>
>Well, I tried to keep this short....
>
>Now, I am very paranoid. One part of me says it was because I didn't give
>electrolytes those 3 days, the other part says that before I began distance
>riding, I (and most other
>casual trailriders) didn't even *know* about them and didn't feed them at
>all and I never had this problem before. My mare, btw, did the same rides
>and was normal in every way; but then Redbud had been too....
>
>One of the books I have says that horses who have "thumped" are more likely
>to thump again. =20
>
>I had planned to take Redbud on a 2 day 50 mile ride Aug. 17-18 (a
>competitive ride, the speed will be 6mph), but am worried about this. My
>Dvet is on vacation....
>
>Can anyone give me advice? Has anyone experienced this? This was on a
>Sunday evening, hours from home, I was hesitant to try to contact an=
unknown
>vet since the horse didn't show any signs of distress at all. Would this=
be
>considered a case of
>"mild" thumps? Is it likely to happen again? I haven't ridden him since,
>we came home the next afternoon, and it has been *very* hot and humid the
>past 2 days. What do I look for to prevent this?
>
>I hope it can be prevented by using electrolytes...
>
>Sorry to go on and on, trying to explain thoroughly.
>
>Any and all advice will be appreciated!=20
>
>Jude Hall
>& Kentucky Redbud
>Hall@cc.denison.edu
>
>