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RE: [RC] Taking horses to higher elevations - Carolyn BurgessI disagree. There is a huge difference in the amount of oxygen available at 8000-10000 feet versus sea level. Those of us (animals and humans) who live at sea level have less red blood cells than those who live at higher levels. Even in good shape, you will suffer from oxygen deprivation, which will show in several different ways. If you are in really good shape, you might just breath alot heavier (which is what I did when I went from sea level to 5500 on vacation and went horseback riding on a borrowed horse. You may be acclimated because it sounds like you ride at the higher elevation frequently. On that same vacation we climbed to about 9000 and started to run up and down a hill to sled in the snow. I started to get lighted headed and got a headache. Carolyn Burgess --- "Dean A. Conti" <dean@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Kristi, An elevation of 8000'-10000' shouldn't present much of a problem for a fit horse (and human). Will you be at that elevation all day, every day, or will you come back down for each night? We live at 500' near Seattle and ride at 7000'+ and have never noticed any problems. In my mountain climbing at 12000'-13000' I have never experienced any altitude sickness, which typically sets in at even higher elevations. Slowing down is definitely in order, however, to give the system more time to process more volume of less dense air. See this link for more ideas: www.horse-sense.org/archives/20041219113232.phtml Dean -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kristi Schaaf Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 11:38 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Taking horses to higher elevations Because I LOVE to plan trips (I should have been a travel agent), I'm already in the process of planning a major horse trip to the mountains for next fall. Does anyone have any info to share on the problems with taking flat-lander horses to the mountains? We're talking going from my house at under 1,000 feet above sea level to 8-10,000 feet. It seems that I read a post on ridecamp awhile back that mentioned that you either need to take them up and do your ride and get back down, or you need to acclimate them slowly before riding in upper elevations. We plan to be 'in the mountains' for approx 7 or 8 days. Anyone have any info on how/when to ride while up there in no-oxygen land? We'll condition the best we can with the hills we have, so the actual climbing isn't as much of a concern as elevation sickness. Kristi iluvdez at yahoo dot com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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