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Since my horse is one of the horses that received IV fluid treatment at
the recent NC100 ride, and like Heidi, I agree that a) the fact that she
was treated means I over-rode my horse and that b) a detailed post-ride
evaluation needs to be done in order to determine what caused my horse
to get into the situation where I thought it would benefit from
treatment.  We will never know whether she "needed" treatment since,
yes, it was me who made that decision despite the fact that when I first
requested it, I think the treatment vet thought I was crazy (although he
had changed his mind after he saw her condition progress while we were
getting the catheter in her and getting a good place set up for her to
receive the fluids) and since we treated the horse we will never know
what would have happened to her if she hadn't been.

The control vets also thought I was crazy when I pulled her from the
ride at the 58 mile check (11:45 into the ride, so an average speed of
~4.9 mph; 10 hrs of riding time for an average speed of 5.8 mph out on
the trail) despite the fact that she recovered to criteria almost
immediately (about 3 minutes from her arrival time), received either As
or A-s on her vet card, ate and drank well, peed (a little on the darker
yellow side but not excessively so) and pooped normally during the 1
hour hold, and trotted out willingly and soundly when I asked them to
look at her again (under saddle since I had just gotten on her before
going back out on the trail...for the flattish, easier part that was
left of the ride).

I pulled her (actually, I decided to wait a little longer at the vet
check and see what happened) because I didn't like the way she moved her
back legs when I turned her around (and I was sensitive to "doing
something funny with her back legs" from a previous experience...more on
that later) and neither I nor my crew liked the way she kinda dipped her
back when I got on.  We let her walk around a little bit, eat, drink,
etc. for about 15 minutes to see if the way she was moving behind
changed if she got a little bit more time to rest. I still had an hour
or so before the cut-off time.  The condition did not improve during
that time, so I told the vets that I wasn't going on, and walked my
horse back to camp with a sinking suspicion that I was seeing a repeat
of the bizarre condition that I had seen at the 20MT 100 back in 2002
(which is why I decided that it would be in her best interests to get
the fluids immediately rather than waiting until the next morning when
the condition had
progressed to the point where it was obvious that there was something
pretty seriously wrong with the horse)...more on that later.

To give a little background on whether the "heat of the competition"
affected the way that I rode this particular ride....

I attended the ride because it was a 100 mile ride that was only a 1 1/2
hour drive on a pleasant trail at a pleasant venue, and if Terry ever
decides to put a hundred miler on again on the same trail, I will be
there (assuming I have a horse I consider ready for it).  The fact that
it was the "National Championship" was totally irrelevant to me, and
like all endurance rides, I was there to ride my horse to the finish
well within its capabilities and I, quite frankly, didn't give a shit
what other people were there for or how they were planning to ride their
horses.

When my crew person asked me "What are your plans for this ride?"  My
response was, "I am planning to ride my horse." And she asked, "No, I
mean, are you planning to race? Do you want to try to top ten? Or what?"
And I responded, "I am planning to ride my horse."  So, you can take my
word for it that it is unlikely that what caused my horse to be treated
had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was "the National
Championship" or that I was caught up in the race and not paying
attention to the capabilities of my own horse.

Additionally, I was well aware that temperatures were predicted to rise
significantly during the day, that we would be out on the toughest part
of the course in the heat of the day with no shade...on a black horse.
I was not ignorant of the high temperatures (it wasn't particularly
humid, in fact it was a little on the dry side and there was a pretty
decent breeze). The breeze did help to keep horses' temeratures down,
but it also was extremely dehydrating without it being apparently so
because though the horses were sweating quite a bit, they weren't
getting wet because they dried off almost immediately) and I did
everything I could (with a great deal of help from the way ride
management had set up the course and the water available...there was
lots, and though we didn't much use the stuff along the trail for
sponging, because dunking your sponge in the drinking trough is
considered rather rude, there was plenty for scooping it onto the horses
and most people did, myself included.  I had also arrange, in advance,
for my crew to provide me with frozen water in my water bottles for the
second and third loops (the hot ones) so I could pour COLD water on my
horse, which I did.    I feel pretty confident that I didn't have a
problem with my horse over-heating.

I did have a heart rate monitor on the horse, mostly so it would be easy
to tell when she was recovered at the vet checks (although this turns
out to not have been necessary, since there was pretty much a P&R person
for each horse at the vet check with a hand held HRM that would monitor
the horse for you).  And her heart rate did not go above 135 but once or
twice all day (once when going up a short but very steep incline on the
first loop it went up to about 150 for about 5 strides and once when we
had to pass through a herd of cows...that she really wanted to bolt
through :)).  While trotting on the flattish parts of the course her HR
was between 90 and 100, when trotting or cantering up the hills (if we
were) it was between 110 and 125, when walking up hill it was between
100 and 115, when going down hill at either trot or canter it was
between 80 and 100, and when walking down hill it was between 55 and 80.
I don't know what it was when I got off and walked because the signal
wasn't reliable.  I got off and walked on most of the up hill portions
of the third loop (mile 34-58: ~12:45 to 4:45).

I was aware that the course was more difficult that most people might
think it would be and even mentioned such to both Jamie Kerr and the
Bradleys (who I spent most of the second and/or third loops riding
with).  I remarked that the couse was "deceptively difficult" because it
wasn't as flat as it might seem, and that the heat was, indeed, going to
be a factor, and that I saw no reason to rush my horse through the
hardest part of the course in the heat of the day, only to have no horse
left for the easier part when it cooled down.

Taking advice from Susan Garlinghouse with respect to increasing my
horse's thirst response by adding salt to her diet in the days before
the ride, I gave her a couple of ounces of salt in her regular beet
pulp/4-way mix during the four days before the ride, and before the
trailer ride.  She ate well in the trailer, and drank well after getting
out of the trailer and through the night.  She also started drinking
quite early in the ride (she drank at the 5 mile water stop, although
not at the 9 mile stop) and ate and drank well throughout the ride.

She ate hay for about 15 minutes at the 12 mile VC and was electrolyted
with a mixture of 1/2 oz salt and 1/2 oz carbo loader before going back
out on the trail.  At the 19 mile water stop I gave her another does of
the same mixture and fed her about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of 4-way grain (same
as she gets at home).  At the 28 mile water stop, she ate hay (Utah mix
of grass and alfalfa kindly provided by the Bradley crew, with whom I
was now riding) for about 15 minutes along with a bit more of the 4-way
sprinkled on top.  At the 34 mile vet check she recovered in less than
the time it took to get from the in-timer to the water trough and vetted
through with all As except for impulsion and attitude for which she got
Bs.  She jogged out quietly in hand rather than running over the top of
me :).

She spent most of the 45 minutes of the VC eating hay (a mix of alfalfa
and timothy), her beet pulp mix and carrots.  Before leaving I
electrolyted her again with about 1 oz of salt, 1/2 oz of carbo loader
and as much applesauce as fit in the syringe with the mix.

She drank at most (but not all, they were, after all, only about 4 miles
apart) of the water stops between miles 34 and 58.  She was electrolyted
again at ~42 miles and also given another 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of 4-way.  She
got a little bit of the same grain and grazed a bit on the available
grass at mile 46 and again at mile 52.  She also grazed a bit at the
mile ~55 "human refreshment" stop while _I_ ate cantaloupe, cookies and
gatorade.

I have already told what happened at the 58 mile check; although she
also spent some time eating the bran/carrot mash and oat hay provided by
ride management.  She ate pretty constantly for the hour hold there and
showed no signs of distress or unhappiness about anything in particular.

However, in the hour between the time I pulled her and walked her back
to camp and when I could get the vet to treat her, she went from being a
little late with her hind legs when turning to all the classic signs of
ataxia, failed the assorted proprioception tests (i.e. you could pull
her over by pulling on her tail) and even more oddly, you could
practically push her over by applying light pressure on her shoulder
blade, and you could get her knees to practically buckle and her back to
drop by just setting her hand on her withers.  Although all obvious
manifestations of the problem go away after the first couple of steps of
getting her moving.

Because these signs reminded me of what had happened at 20 MT two and a
half years before (more on that later), and because 6 liters of fluids
(as prescribed by the Duck) made the horse go from, "I can't move
because I don't know where my feet are." to "Jump in the trailer and go
home" within a couple of hours, I told the treatment vet that and
decided that I would rather jump straight to fixing it with a few liters
of fluids and skipping over the "I can't move stage."

John McConnell (the treatment vet) asked me if Dave had given her
anything in the fluids (banamine, etc.) to which I said, "No."  Although
he had gone and gotten Jamie Kerr (who had ridden the ride) to show the
horse to him because the question of the day was, "Have you ever seen a
horse like this before?"  To which both of them said, "No, never."

So, now, more about what happened at 20 MT.

see part 2

kat
Orange County, Calif.




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