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Re: [RC] RC:Core Temp - Nik Isahak Abdullah

Ah Truman! You obviously are not privy to their already well known big secret .The Kenyans train with the lions.Those that you get to see on CNN and BBC are the good ones !
I am going to share our little secret here with you because I think it is important for US of A to come back to 'big time ' in FEI Endurance for the importance of the sport : You do not need super million euro fast fast horses to win over here in KL ,but you need real tough horses .
We have a couple of horses from Down Under who has done well in Tom Quilty but have so far acquited themselves miserably in the local ride .
Why dont you come over in november and ride the 160 km on my horse in the WEC trail in exchange for a Tevis ride .How far is Tevis from Florida ?
Nik


From: Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Nik Isahak Abdullah <drnikisahak@xxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: RC:Core Temp
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 18:48:56 -0400

Hit the nail on the head Nik. After the 1992 Olympics were the staggering eventing horses were seen on television world wide - the IOC got concerned. Barcelona, Spain was heaven compared to what Atlanta, Georgia could be in August. The USOC went to the University of Georgia - should have gone to a real university like the University of Florida not some paper mill but that's a different story ;-) - to do extensive studies on heat dissipation and effective methods of cooling. UGA actually used some endurance rides in their study. It turns out that dissipation is the issue. It is the bottleneck and the faster you can get the heat dissipated - the better off you are.

This lead to some of the more aggressive cooling protocols - ripping tack as soon as possible and huge amounts of cold water, ice on the juggler, etc. We didn't have staggering horses after the eventing in '96 - although that was about what the temp was.

I remember a ride in N. GA some years ago in June. It was about 100 when we show up to camp. The humidity was high. The next day was cooler but the humidity higher. The crews had taken a lot of ice up the mountain to the check ( three on the mountain that day) for the 50. The use of ice packs on the juggler not only got your horse down - it cooled him to the point that he relaxed, rested and ate and drink well instead of worrying about somehow getting his core temp down. The vets had a brilliant idea that day - longer holds. True you had to go a little faster but if you cooled out your horse properly the longer holds were a God send.

There are two issues in this type of conditions. Heat dissipation is the first issue. If this is not accomplished - nothing else matters. After that is proper (notice I said proper) balancing of electrolytes through supplementation. As what seems all to usual these days we have the extremes - shove 8 pounds down the gullet every chance we get and the total abstinence. Got to love the good old United States - we don't seem to be able to find the middle. We Americans seem more intent on justifying our stand than the welfare of our horses at times I fear.

More likely it's a few 5 to 10 grams every 5 miles. But every horse is different and the art of riding a horse is to know exactly what to do when. As one that has taken a good friend to the local emergency room for "heart problems" while we were putting up fence in August only to have them hook him up to an IV with electrolytes and take him home a few hours later - electrolytes do matter. They especially matter in hot and humid conditions.

PS a Kenyan marathoner can run anywhere any time - most are probably all related to Kip Keno or Tegla Loroupe and someone should do some DNA testing on the. I'm not sure they are human!

Truman

Nik Isahak Abdullah wrote:
John,
It is back to anatomy .A Kenyan marathoner can pretty well do a 2 hour marathon either in Boston or Kuala Lumpur ,well maybe add a few minutes more .The human surface area compared to the body weight ratio has an index of 1 .Humidity is not critical here
I still remember Donna Snyder Smith wrote in her book about an elite horse rider combination doing a 10 hour ride up north USA and in the same season taking almost 24 hours to complete a 160 in the hottest summer in Texas .As Peter Toft has rightfully asserted ,this is back to a 'raised' Core temperature .Horses surface area to body weight ratio is one fifth of human .This is the 'bottleneck 'in the heat diffussion equation ,the limiting factor.So if you have a horse that can do a 16 kph average in the 2008 WEC you have a horse made in heaven .I would do a DNA testing ,it may be a leopard in disguise !
Nik

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Replies
Re: [RC] RC:Core Temp, Truman Prevatt