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RideCamp@endurance.net
Re: thumps
Well, I'd rather be telling a different story, but in the interests of
sharing learning experiences, here's the tale of my ride this weekend, (Wine
Country 50) at which my horse developed thumps. Ah, the humiliation of the
metabolic pull........
First off, I thought this was a GREAT ride - I had heard that the trail was
tough, and it was very rocky, plus some pretty steep pitches, but overall it
was great riding. The ride organization was excellent, the trail was well
marked, plenty of water was available, etc. One little hitch with slow
vetting in, but hey, I had no where to go.
The background
Over the last year, I have gradually reduced the alfalfa in my horse's diet
to near none. He is currently on 8 acres of beautiful irrigated pasture, a
little legume, but not much. He is on other carb sources (oats/beet pulp)
in varying amounts depending on how hard we are training. Also gets Dynamite
as a supplement.
Two things have changed in the recent past, and in retrospect I wish it were
only one, since that would help figure things out. The first is that I
started feeding loose rock salt, only a couple of weeks ago. I can't help
but wonder about this now, tho the vets said it was not implicated, but as
soon as I offered it, my horse crunched up quite a bit over several days
(and he had been totally ignoring his block salt).
The second is that I switched elytes, from Lyte Now to Perform N Win - I will
describe the elyte protocol below. Perform N Win is the elyte mix that I
believe Susan Garlinghouse described at the AERC convention, which was the
subject of radioisotope tagged studies to verify rapid absorption. (Susan -
of course correct me if I have the facts confused here). Anyhow I had been
feeding the PNW during training rides for a few weeks.
The ride: I'll consider a single one oz scoop of the PNW as "one dose" for
the sake of clarity.
I dosed the horse (KA Airborne is his name, and please, I have already heard
aaaalllll the jokes about it) with one dose PNW the day before travel, one
the morning of travel. We hauled 5 hours to Karen Sullivan's place
(onegreymare on RC and a finer hostess you will not find). We rode a short
walk/jog ride that afternoon, I gave one more dose of PNW that night.
A dose of PNW Friday, and a 2 hour haul to the ride. Word was that it would
be very hot, and that many horses had suffered the heat at this ride last
year. I gave a double dose after vetting in, and a double dose in the
morning.
Waited until 2/3 the riders were out before even getting on and jogging out.
Picked up a pretty good pace after that, 8 - 9 mph, walking the steep hills.
Let him pass some horses, which he loves better than life itself. He was
very eager but not obnoxious. Drank well on the trail, starting at about
12-14 miles. First real vet check was not until 26 miles, and I had planned
to dose him (with the Lyte Now) on the trail at about 18 miles, but the
syringe had busted in my pack.
Fog had come in during the night and temps were actually pretty cool. Came
into the vet check with him looking great. I wasn't really keeping track,
but guess I must have come into the vet check somewhere in the 13-15th place,
but leapfrogged over quite a bunch of folks waiting to pulse down. Airborne
slugged up a bunch of water & I gave one dose of Lyte Now. He munched
everything we put in front of him. Vetted through great - attitude,
impulsion, hydration, gut sounds, all fine. He peed and pooped, and
continued eating and drinking quite a bit. Gave one dose of PNW just before
leaving the VC.
He seemed happy as a clam, trotted and cantered a few flats, just cruising
along. I never nudged him on in any way, but did hang on his mouth a bit
when other riders passed us. Drank great on the trail at every opportunity.
Just before the 39 mile vet check, he seemed to be head bobbing a few times,
tho other riders with me couldn't see it. I slowed to a walk, he was fine,
moved back up to the trot, no problem. About a half mile later, when I got
off to lead him in to the VC, he stumbled and dropped what must have been a
pretty loose front shoe.
Led him into the VC. He drank great, I gave him a double dose of PNW.
Heart rate 60 on arrival. He was eating well while we waited in line. EZ
boot on. At the trot out, impulsion was down a bit from #1 - just not as
eager. Vet said he was a little off on the shoeless foot, but since the
boot would prevent any further damage, it would be fine to travel on. Heart
rate now down to 54. Hydration, cap refill, mucus membranes all looking
good. Then the vet (who was Dr. Ribley, by the way) listened to gut sounds,
and he was THUMPING. Yikes. It was quite subtle at that time. She
recommended pulling him, and just letting him rest and eat. Did that for
about 30 minutes, with the thumps intermittent, but seeming overall a little
worse. HR now 72. He still looked fine, interested in the other horses,
eating and drinking. Pooped, but no urine.
Back to the doc, who said all other parameters looked okay, tho obviously
increasing heart rate NOT a good sign. She did not think it was appropriate
to elyte again. Suggested trailering back to camp, and consider treating if
he isn't improving. Over the next half hour, HR steadily down, to upper
40's. Thumps diminishing and gone within about an hour and a half of
beginning. Recheck with the vet in camp (Dr. Farr) and the horse seems
entirely recovered. Not even really very fatigued looking. Peed and
pooped. Ate fine.
So............ of course I spoke with both vets, who were completely
consistent that this was a result of low calcium, or (I think) possibly
disturbed Ca/magnesium ratios. They maintained that I couldn't have over
electrolyted him. Didn't think the change to loose salt mattered. Dr.
Ribley said I probably SHOULD be feeding alfalfa in the day/hours before a
ride (again, for the calcium). On Dr. Farr's suggestion I went back and
looked for the Ca content of the PNW - not listed, tho it is the 6th
ingredient on the label.
Looking at Karen Chaton's elyte chart (many thanks, Karen) the Ca content of
PNW is "n/a".
Guess until I know more, I am done with the PNW during rides. Wish I had
thought to ask Dr. Ribley to draw blood, but at the time I was upset about
the horse, and just not thinking ahead.
Dr. Farr said no reason to back off the riding once home and rested - said
the elyte imbalance would self correct in a few days. But, of course I feel
leery. May try a slow 25 next. Mostly it scares me that I just could not
see a dang thing wrong with my horse, who was obviously on the verge of
serious trouble. Thank God for the attentive experienced ride vets.
Any reasonably constructive input very welcomed. Sure feel crummy about
running my horse into trouble.
pat farmer
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