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[RC] Normal gut sounds? - Ridecamp Guest

Please Reply to: Lynn White LYNNDEEPOO@xxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I am getting ready to do my first 100-miler the end of this month.  I did an 80 
miler last fall and was promptly pulled at the end primarily because my mare 
had no gut sounds.  I have to admit, I did ride like an idiot and allowed my 
mare to go way too fast.  She never did stop eating and drinking, and someone 
even remarked how good she looked at the trot-out.  I think she just needed 
some time to allow for the blood to get back to her gut because within 2 hours 
she was fine.  She also went the whole 80 miles without peeing once which I 
think accounted for the fact that her heart rate would not drop to criteria, 
but went to 52 bpm after I tied her to the trailer and she released the gallons 
of pee that she had been holding in.

Anyway, after that fiasco I have become quite obsessed with the gut sounds of 
my mare.  I got the peeing thing down with the Pavlovian trick of whistling and 
getting her to just relax.  I have noticed that I really have to strain to hear 
her sounds even when she is grazing in the pasture when I can hear my other 
horse?s sounds standing a foot away without a stethoscope.  On the last ride 
that I went on I fed her apples and pro-bios and all the sloppy/bulky stuff 
that is supposed to increase gut sounds three days prior to the ride and we 
still vetted in with a B on gut sounds.  Our out vet check was a B+ on gut 
sounds so at least we had improved after those 50 miles!  This has been the 
case on many rides where the out-vet gut sounds were better than the in-vet gut 
sounds.

My mare is one of those voluptuous mares.  I joke that she has a Botticelli 
Belly, and someone is always asking me if she is pregnant.  She?s not really 
fat, but she?s not one of those lean endurance horses either.   I have asked 
many vets at rides if they though she was too fat and many replied that in 
their opinion she just had a larger than normal lung capacity.  So I am 
wondering if the shape and size of her belly accounts for the low volume of the 
gut sounds.

Anyway, like I said, I am getting ready for this 100 miler and I want to the 
let the vets know about this without having them think I am trying to get away 
with something.  Believe me, I  have one endurance horse that I love dearly, 
and I am not going to do anything that would put her at risk.  I am a mile 
chaser so placing is not really high on my priority, but I don?t lolly-gag 
either.  I try to maintain a steady 7-8 mph pace.  I really want to complete 
this ride, and I think I am doing everything right to prepare my horse for it.  
So how do I handle telling these vets about my experience with the gut sounds?  
Are there horses out there that just have normally quiet guts?  I do plan 
having my mare eat between vet checks to maintain the bulk and plan on walking 
in up to a ½ mile before the vet checks to increase blood flow to the guts if I 
think they could be low.  I also plan on taking the stethoscope along so that I 
can monitor them myself.

Is there anything else that I need to be doing or telling the vets?


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