Re: heart rate - fit to continue criteria

["hn.heather" <hn.heather@wanadoo.fr>]

Hi ridecampers
I'm new to the list, not even an American, god forbid, just an endurance
rider interested in how other endurance riders do it.
I live in France, breed Arabians, & compete in endurance on them, reasonably
successfully up to 100-mile level, I'm a 'finisher' rather than a 'winner'.
The comment about HR as a criterium for fitness struck a chord with me.
This August I started a 130kms ride with a home-bred 7yr Arabian stallion.
Horse in his 2nd season having successfully completed the necessary
qualifiying procedure to compete at this level, including 2 90kms
completions.
Apart from the fact that I would have said he was a bit too relaxed at the
pre-ride vetting all seemed well.  Early on in the ride he seemed sluggish &
lacking in energy.  Since he's a lazy horse at I decided to carry on
steadily & see at the vets.  To cut a long story short he sailed thru all
the vets with good CRI's.  He drank, ate (ravenous appetite) & pee'd all the
way round.  His CRI at the final vet was 42/42, the vet actually
congratulated me.
Towards the end of the final leg his breathing became "bubbly".  I slowed
down & we finished steadily with the horse feeling OK.
We vetted out for lameness (thats another story) with a HR of 52 (vetted
within 10 mins of arrival) but with what I considered a high respiration
rate.
Bloods & endoscope subsequently showed a deep- seated respiratory infection
(he coughed a bit in the early stages of the ride) which we have treated.  I
asked my vet how a horse with a seriously compromised respiratory system
could complete 130kms with few clinical symptons & such good CRI's.  His
reply "Some horses are so competitive they "ignore" their hurts.  They are
the best & the most dangerous because its easy to do them damage by
over-riding."
So what I am asking is:  if CRI's are an indication of incipient
lameness/metabolic problems I am interested to know how my horse can have a
CRI of 42/42 at 100kms & then turn up lame & have compromised breathing at
the end?  What do the ridecamp vets think?
I know I shall be jumped on from on high with people saying, "why didn't she
listen to her horse, etc, etc".  but he looked & felt great.  He had done
90kms 6 weeks prior to the ride where he completed the final leg at
23kms/hour in very hot weather with HR of 42 at the final vet.  The only
things I should have picked up on where the sluggishness & the mild coughing
but I'm afraid I didn't take these seriously.
I'm not taking issue with HR as a criterium, just pointing out that
sometimes horses do slip through the net.
Sorry about a rather long intro message.
Merry Christmas & Happy Y2K to all Ridecampers.
Heather Hamper
France



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=