Re: pulses and gut sounds

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

>Steph's reply:
>
>> If there is one BIG thing we can do to improve our horses' peformance
>> it is adequate conditioning. Electrolytes are very important, yes,
>> especially over longer distances and hot/humid conditions. But
>> most of the things we do - probiotics, supplements - are of little
>> value - and of no use if the horse is not fit for the work it is
>> asked to do.
>>
>
>I often wondered about the gut sounds. I took my 5 year old mare up to
>Wesley Million Pines last April. We had already planned to go, but my
>gelding had a bruised heal. I took my race mare and took a shot at a slow 50
>miler. I know from conditioning she could do 8 miles per hour all day. So
>that was my goal, and I finished in 6:51.
>
>But the gut sounds where my concern. She did not want to eat at the
>v-checks. My last loop I was very worried about her. Some one said give her
>probiotics it will give her gut sounds. I just don't want to give her gut
>sounds, I want them to work properly. So when I reached a big field down the
>trail, I pulled her off and let her graze for 20 minutes. At the next creek
>we paused for a while and she drank real good. I put her bit back in and off
>we went.
>
>When we returned to camp she dove into her food and trotted out for the vet
>like a pro. The person who made the probiotic suggestion said, you don't
>have to check for gut on the final check. THAT WAS NOT THE POINT!
>
>Do these products help the horse or just fool the system? My vet said no no
>no. I think it would be best if you horse ate, drank and trotted out without
>artificial stimulants or whipping. But my father always said that opinions
>are like "donkey holes" everyone has one....
>
>Laurie
>

Okay...here's the scoop on Blaze's hang time and his consistent Bs on gut
sounds.  These were considerations that I had thought about and wanted
ideas from the group...which I got and tried.  

A bit on Blaze -- I pulled Blaze out of the pasture 3 years ago at the age
of 10 and declared he had to go to work as a schooling horse.  He's a 15h
Arab/MFT cross built like a tank.  He was grossly overweight and a 10yo
herd boss "king of the pasture" (wuss on the trails <g>) with no
base...with a dippy back, a paddling left fore, and history of completely
severing his left rear extensor tendon as a 4yo -- I've owned him since
conception so I know every detail about this guy.  (Didn't even know how
he'd do on the trail, let alone anything of any length, nor was I even
thinking along those lines at that time.)  I needed him for schooling.

Since he was slated to work for a living now, I started schooling him in
the arena and did that for a year while he worked as a beginner basics
horse...then I discovered endurance. <g>  He's been going out in the hills
here now for two years (and some of those early rides were quite an
adventure...this is Mr. Toad we're talking about here ;-)) and ridden with
a regular, progressive routine, a heart rate monitor, and my friend Aarene
and her Standarbred, Story.  Now, granted, Story had a bit of a head start
on him CV-wise with 2 years of trail but no dressage at that point so she
needed some slow restructuring and granted, we weren't out 3 times a
week...sometimes only once in the hills and the rest in the arena.  We
monitored every improvement he made and kept that in mind when considering
Story's her better CV system.  When we started, his P&Rs were
atrocious...and to make matters worse, he was hauling my big butt up those
hills. ;-)  He has improved tremendously in the two years time.

His eating habits are reputable!  He is a voracious eater, almost to the
point of letting Story get out of sight before even lifting up his
head...and this guy is so co-dependant on this mare it stinks!!  He drinks
well and has *finally* figured out how to pee under saddle altho he isn't
great in that regard yet.  He has an active GI system that has earned him
the nicknames of Elephant Pharts and Earthworm.  And yet...he has rarely
achieved above a B on gut sounds at a ride...even at the check-in.  I stop
periodically on rides and let him graze and I'm pretty conservative as far
as speed is concerned.  He eats great during vet checks also.  I was
stumped, so I paid attention to some suggestions others had and one of
those was the ProBios.  So, what the heck...give it a shot.  I was pretty
nervous about something new since I'm very conservative in that regard
also...but he got straight As and felt great...and drug me thru the vet
checks! (I have a grade 2 lameness so this part can be amusing, if not
challenging, at times...and, yes, I guess we could say he's ready for 50s.
<g>)  I didn't change anything else in his diet but the probiotics with the
electrolytes.  Could be coincidence...or maybe because it was a close ride
and we could get there earlier and got a chance to have an easy ride on
Friday before.  I don't know.  Further research coming. <g>

As far as the hanging pulse was concerned...I gradually got him down from
hanging at 80 to 70, but couldn't get below 70 just stopping riding.  We
would watch it at training rides to see how long it actually took him and
time it every time...while Story would drop like a rock in one minute,
Blaze always took 2-4 minutes.  

As we increased the intensity of the workouts, we would see the exact same
thing.  Hang at 70, then drop.  The change for the good was from not fit at
all (hang at 80) to one year later starting LDs (hang at 70) to one year
later ready for 50s (*still* hanging at 70! :-p)  We appreciated his
improvements in all areas except this hang.  I sent a plea out for
suggestions to help this problem.  Following advice received, we amped up
the conditioning program a bit (more hills but only one month before the
next ride) and then I decided to see if cooling him a bit as I rode would
help this guy...who is, BTW, now looking pretty good but he is still a
tank!  He's got enough muscle to haul my afore mentioned size butt up those
hills on top of being built like a tank...all that muscle making heat.  So
I played target practice with the puddles at the last ride just to see if
it would make a difference.  Since we were riding the 25, we had two vet
checks...at which he dropped to criteria 1 (one! ;-)) minute after arriving
both times.  This was a first...for any ride or training session!
Coincidence...maybe.  But it might have been that I was keeping him cooler
which meant he didn't sweat as much or need to cool as much when he
stopped...and not pull so much fluid out of his gut, which felt fine (he
says) so the ProBios didn't hurt him and maybe made the excitement a bit
easier to handle.  I don't know...I'm just guessing...or surmising since
Aarene and I have discussed this problem to death while we've been hauling
up and down those hills.  Next year he will be ridden by students
primarily...and most of them will be in a lower weight category than me, so
that may help as well. <g>  Oh, and his winging got better and we've not
had any problems with his rear tendon at all.

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. ;-)

Sue 
-------
Sue Brown
Tyee Farm
ARICP Certified Riding Instructor
Recreational Riding and Dressage
Marysville, Wa. 
sbrown@wamedes.com