Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Ice up...

Ah--thanks for the clarification.  Still not something I'd recommend,
though.

A horse with an ice fetish????  Hmm.....


----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Long" <jlong@xxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [RC] Ice up...


> On Wed, 19 Jun 2002 14:12:22 -0400, Lisa Redmond
> <lredmond23@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >This might be a stupid question, but how can shoving ice in an animal's
> >rectum be considered the same as giving electrolytes?  Strikes me as
being a
> >little on the cruel side, actually.  I know I wouldn't want someone
shoving
> >ice up MY butt to bring down my body temperature or slow my respirations.
I
> >know some folks are going to counter with "but the large intestine is a
> >major site of water absorption, so it's another way of rehydrating"...but
> >purely from a nutritionist's point of view I still have to look at that
one
> >sideways.  Electrolytes are replacing critical minerals in a way that is
> >both natural and not prone to shocking the system.  A rectum full of ice
is
> >NOT a natural way to bring down body temp nor is it a natural method of
> >rehydrating an animal.  Plus, if vets are using body temp as a criterion
for
> >recovery, that's as bad as a kid holding a thermometer under hot tap
water
> >to convince mom he has a temp and shouldn't go to school.
>
> It's not a stupid question at all.  I'll try to answer.
>
> Ice is nothing but frozen water, a completely natural substance.  AERC
> has no rule against putting ice in either end of the horse.
>
> These were small smooth pieces, about the size of walnuts.  Kahlil
> didn't seem to mind; he might have even liked it!
>
> It wasn't done to lower his body temperature (a handful isn't enough
> to do that), or to fool a thermometer.  In fact, they weren't taking
> temperatures.  I took his rectal temperature myself prior to using the
> ice, to be sure he was below 103 degrees.  As I understand it, the ice
> "fools" the body and stops the panting.  It's quite temporary.  The
> ride vet understood this; that's why he said "He's bringing his
> horse's respiration down" not "he's cooling off his horse."
>
> I do not advocate using ice as a normal means to cool a hot horse, or
> even using this method to stop panting.  Actually, I normally don't
> want to stop panting, it is helping him cool himself.  I used this
> trick on this one occasion to avoid what I believed to be a very
> stupid policy from getting us pulled when Kahlil was perfectly OK.
>
>
>
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 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=