In a message dated 3/11/2004 2:17:54 PM Pacific Standard Time, heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Does using her for endurance during initial treatment make the treatment less effective? Probably. If she were my mare, I would not want to do an endurance ride on her until the treatment was well advanced and having its intended effect--drug rule or no drug rule!
I agree and have decided not to ride. While my vet told me the shots do in any way interfere with performance, I hadn't thought about the stress to her immune system-- surely riding her in 50 miles, or even 25 in "ride environment" will stress her.
--I'm using the term "acute" in its medical sense here--meaning any time the problem is in an exacerbated or active state. While the problem is indeed "chronic," the times that she is miserable are "acute episodes.">>
Technically she's not in an acute phase now...July through Oct. is the worse.
> BTW this is horse is not a prospect. She is my horse who happens to do > endurance. That's what she will always be.
Answer me this. If she tore a suspensory ligament, even though she is "your horse who happens to do endurance," she would stay home from rides until she was healed and rehabbed, wouldn't she? So why not stay home and rehab through a metabolic disease as well? I submit that the time out of the sport is just as important for getting through metabolic issues (and yes, immune disease IS a metabolic issue that affects other metabolic functions) as it is for soundness issues--if not moreso! >>
What I meant by that her not being a prospect is I got her before I considered doing endurance, and will continue to keep her even if she can't. My husband (who is a DDS...but NOT a vet <g>) said it's not a metabolic issue so I hadn't thought of it that way. Didn't look at allergies as a disease.
The improvement in symptoms are supposed to be in the first 3-5 months...so that is probably the critical time. I guess no rides until fall.
Thanks for you input Heidi...you gave me some things to think about i hadn't considered.
