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> You are both right to some extent. A horse who is not in condition
>will have an elevated respiratory rate when it comes into the vet check
>and may stay elevated for an extended period of time if it is exhausted.
>Some of that may be simply due to psycological stress and/or habbit.
>Another sutuation is if they have been charging up a hill, creating lactic
>acid. Hyperventilating can neutralize some of that acid by blowing off
>a lot of carbon dioxide. True panting, though, is to cool the body. Air
>rushing in over the intricate scrollwork of mucus membrane tissue will
>cool the blood. Exhaling the warm, moisture-laden air will carry off
>a lot of heat. The trouble is when the air temp is greater than 105 or so,
>panting won't help much. Cool water, and lots of it, over your horse will
>help minimize the panting. Even if the humidity is such that not much
>evaporation takes place, at least the cool water will pick up a lot of heat
>and run off the body.
Exactly. Which is why ride vets evaluate the quality of the
respiration, and don't just pass/fail by a number (rate in breaths per
minute). And why riders need to know the difference between elevated
respiration due to metabolic needs, and panting.
Anticipating the question: A panting horse will be taking rapid,
shallow breaths, and will have a somewhat elevated core temperature
(if the panting is caused by a temperature over about 103 degrees that
is a cause for concern and the horse should not continue until the
temperature comes down). A horse in metabolic distress will be taking
deep rapid breaths, and there will be other signs of the distress.
--Joe Long jlong@mti.net http://www.mti.net Business http://www.rnbw.com Personal
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