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Physiological Basis for Intravenous fluids following travel in horses.
James Bryant DVM, Diplomate ACVS

In the sport of endurance there is some controversy surrounding the  
pre-ride use of intravenous fluids. I think it is very important to  
define the purpose of the fluids because there are both appropriate  
and inappropriate uses of fluids. First, the use of intravenous  
fluids as a pre-race supplement has remained and should remain  
controversial for years. The use of so-called jugs (IV fluids and  
vitamins and electrolytes) once a staple on the race track and  
through the recent years while still performed by some the  
physiologic benefits have been proven to be less and less important.  
In addition the kidneys are designed to remove excessive fluid from  
the body, therefore if you give fluids to a well hydrated horse they  
are likely to urinate the extra and therefore not expand the pre-race  
blood volume. Therefore unless you are starting a ride with a  
dehydrated horse (which none of us would ever advocate) the benefit  
of fluids in the 24 hours prior to a ride is likely non-existent.

Second, the use of intravenous fluids following travel seems to have  
some controversy around it which I find as completely inappropriate.  
When people travel long distances in planes it is recommended that  
you drink plenty of fluids (water) and when you arrive at your  
destination continue do so for the first 24 hours. We all know that  
after long travels we feel tired, dehydrated, run down and take 1 to  
3 days to feel like ourselves again. To assume that horses are  
somehow different and have no ill effects systemically with travel  
makes no sense. When blood work is performed on horses that have  
traveled wether 10 hours or more by trailer and/or over 6 hours by  
plane we find that over 80% of the horses have an elevation in there  
PCV (packed cell volume) and TP (Total protein) these values are  
indicators of the amount of fluid (water) in the blood stream. These  
elevations are consistently above the well above the normal for the  
individual horse and some times very elevated consistent with sever  
dehydration. Therefore the overall effect of the travel results in  
some form of dehydration even with access to water throughout the trip.

In particular to endurance horses that travel long distances by  
ground or plane we have great concern over starting an event (or even  
training) a horse that is dehydrated. We know for a fact that on a  
100 mile ride an endurance horse can be expected to lose at least 3  
to 5% of its body weight in water during the event by the finish.  
Horse that are in metabolic trouble can lose over 10% and can be in  
severe danger of colic, exhaustion, dehydration, laminitis and even  
death. From past experiences we have learned t (sometimes the hard  
way) that horses can tie-up after long travel. Part of what occurs  
here is the dehydration from travel has contributed to a lower blood  
volume and therefore the muscles are not perfused as well and  
basically starve of oxygen in the first or second workout and then  
these cells die and release the muscles enzymes and you have a tied  
up horse. In addition if they tie-up and are dehydrated now you have  
created an environment that the kidneys can fail from the lack of  
fluid and large accumulation of the myoglobin from the muscle  
breakdown. In this scenario not only will the horse not be able to  
compete but may die from the renal failure. More commonly however the  
question is can the horse recover in time to compete or do they  
compete but compete poorly due to the subsequent issues. When you  
travel with your horse long distance to an important race you want to  
have them in peak form with no lingering issues from travel.

(continued)

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