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[RC] Recovery/CRI - k s swigartHeidi said: Fourth, CRI's on the non-recovering horse would be interesting, certainly. But a horse with an 80/80 CRI is still in trouble. This is not necessarily true. At the end of day 1 of the Rocky Mountain Ride, I was concerned that my horse that normally recovered very quickly (like he was usually recovered before I could get from the in timer to the pulse checker at vet checks) was "hanging" at around 80 a half an hour after the finish despite the fact that everything else looked absolutely normal. I took him to the vet because of this concern. One of the things the vet did was a CRI (as well as checking all his other parameters which were completely normal). He was 80/80, which alleviated the vets concerns somewhat. She asked, "Had he had any electrolytes?" "No, but then I never did give him electrolytes. Could it be because he is aggitated by all these biting flies?" (He was constantly stomping his feet because of them.) "Possibly, but doesn't seem likely." By that time, my parents had gotten back with the keys to the trailer (they had moved it for me and gone sight seeing...and conscientiously locked it up while it was unattended), so I could get in it. I gave him a little bit of electrolytes and put fly spray on him. A few minutes later, the vet came back over to see if there was any change (she, too, was a little concerned). His pulse was now at 40. His CRI was 40/36. She said, "Electrolytes wouldn't have worked that fast. It was almost definitely the flies." (The foot stomping had also stopped.) Hanging pulses are not necessarily caused by internal metabolic concerns. Sometimes external environmental factors that have nothing to do with it. And in my experience, if it is caused by these environmental factors, then the CRI will be something like 80/80; while if it is caused by internal metabolic problems the CRI will be more like 80/96. So, for me, if a horse has a hanging pulse but a "normal" CRI, then I look for something other than a metabolic problem to explain it (in my experience, slight lameness can also cause this). There are things besides metabolic recovery problems that can cause high pulses (like excitement) but I find that these types of problems do not reflect in a CRI. In fact, I find this so much the case that I have learned to virtually discount the relevance of absolute pulse criteria with respect to evaluating metabolic "recovery." I find the CRI to be much more meaningful for this. That and knowing what is normal for a particular horse (which vets at endurance rides simply cannot know). kat Orange County, Calif. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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