Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Metabolic failure

> To the ridecamp vets, please comment.
>
> I understand that these deaths happen and metabolic failure after a ride
or
> pull might occur. But, I am really concerned about a horse going down on
> course with this type of failure. A fall or broken leg might be more
> unforeseen especially in these conditions. Is it your opinion that a rider
> unfamiliar with the horse might have allowed a horse to go on when one who
> knows their horse better might not regardless of the vet checks.
>
> The MAS business man only flies in to "ride" this horse. Although, I
> believe, it was not the first time ridden.
>
> I do express my condolences to all concerned and believe truly that no one
> is at fault. I would, however,  like to see a rules changes that forces or
> limits the "jockey only" out of this type of competition. I believe it is
> too hard and you must really know your horse to compete at this level
> especially in what seemed like very difficult conditions. Perhaps this is
> unfair and welcome all comments.
>
> Thoughts please.

OK, I'll bite, but first with the understanding that none of us have any
facts here other than that the horses died.  Metabolic failure could include
anything from the overriding that we hope it wasn't on through the gamut to
stuff like ruptured aneurysms due to heretofore undetected bloodworm damage.
A horse died one year at ROC due to what would have been classed "metabolic
failure" when small abcesses ruptured in his liver, causing endotoxic shock.
One went down on the trail at one of our multidays one year and was
subsequently euthanized at a local equine hospital--on postmortem it was
discovered that a malignant tumor in the intestinal mesentery had
ruptured--may have caused either an embolus or endotoxic shock.  Horse had
showed absolutely no signs prior to the rupture.  I can remember a lovely
stallion becoming colicky several years ago after a ride and being put down
a few days later at home--same cause.  I've seen one horse collapse and die
almost instantly on the trail due to a cerebral aneurysm.  Can remember
another horse dying of endotoxic shock several hours after a ride in the
80's due to a change in his digestive flora that was presumably caused by
some oddball sort of probiotic, back when those were just being introduced.
(He died at the veterinary teaching hospital at OSU so his case was pretty
well documented.)  Diseases such as E. coli and Salmonella can lie dormant
and go crazy under stress--killing a horse in a matter of hours if the
endotoxin levels get high enough.  A simple gas colic in a high-stress
situation can lead to endotoxic shock and death as well--with a cause as
simple as a feed change.  All of these things are possible causes, in
addition to fatigue-related causes.  Looking at the pulse recovery times on
these two horses, it would not appear that they were being overridden, so
I'd strongly suspect that they had at least some underlying cause going into
the ride.  Could be wrong.  At any rate, there is simply not enough evidence
at this point to suggest that they died due to any inattentiveness on the
part of their riders or that the vetting was in any way at fault.  While I
agree that it helps to know the horse, a really talented horseman will know
there is something going on even on a strange horse.  By the same token,
I've seen very caring riders who just don't "get it" literally ride their
horses into the ground, unable to detect that a problem is cropping up--even
when they've done thousands of miles on that horse.  Rules can't change the
fact that some people are just more adept at picking up changes than are
others, nor can they eliminate deaths from underlying causes that are hidden
until brought out by the stress of a given competition.

Heidi


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