>Could you please explain to me how to take a pulse with a stethescope and
>what an average working heart rate is and one that is considered too high?
>And the same for respiration also what the vet checks are looking for to let
>you go back out?
To take a pulse, place the stethescope on the left side of the horse,
in front of the girth and behind the elbow. If you need to, move the
stethescope around a bit till you can hear the heart rate. If the
horse has a strong slow rate, you should be able to hear a "lub-a-dub"
sort of sound. If the heart rate is a bit faster or not so strong
you'll only hear "lub-dub". A trained vet will still hear the 3-beat.
Look at your watch, (I like to start on a 15 second interval to help
my poor brain), at exactly 00 seconds (or whenever) listen for a heart
beat. If the heart beats at exactly the 00, don't count it. Start with
the first beat after 00. This may be a quarter second or a full second
or more. Count the beats till the watch says 15 seconds are up. If
the heart beats at the 15 second mark, count that beat. Multiply times
four for a full minute rate.
As mentioned last week, the "normal" heart rate varies with each horse,
breed, condition and age. For the "average" endurance horse, you should
have a rate near 40 beats per minute. Or 10 beats in 15 seconds. Your
horse may have a rate of 8 or 15. Don't concern yourself with the
normal or average until you have listened to your horse's rate for
several weeks and know what is normal for him. The horse's rate will
increase or decrease with level of activity and excitement. I watched
a horse "fail" the vet check-in because the mare was in heat and the
previous horse to check-in was a stallion strutting his stuff. The
vet asked the rider to bring the mare back in the morning.
I'm going to use some averages and normals here. Don't worry if you
don't meet the exact numbers. Let's say that Drake (my horse) has a
resting rate of 9 (I'm also going to reduce my numbers to the 15 second
interval). Once I saddle up and get ready to ride, he may be at 12.
I'll work him a bit, and expect him to be at 15, with a quickly lowering
to 12 if I stop work. Then, I'll do some real work and he may go
up to 20. Race up a hill, jump off and take the pulse and he could
be 40, which will drop quickly to 20, then taper off to 15. After
long hard work out, I should be able to get him down to 15 very
quickly, and back to 10 within half an hour.
Some one sent me the follow rates for their horse. They were using a
heart rate monitor.
6 mph trot from 105 - 115 bpm
extended trot - 10 mph? 135 bpm
canter 140-155 bpm
sprint up at 100 foot rise hill in 1/8 mile peaks at 220 bpm.
it is back below 100 bpm in less than 60 sec
At a ride, the criteria will be set some where between 16 and 18
beats in 15 seconds (64 to 72). When you come into the vet check,
you'll have about 1/2 hour to get the horse's heart rate down.
After that, if the horse is not down, you probably have a problem.
Most horses will come down (if ridden within the horse's capacity)
within a couple of minutes. If you walk into the vet check, many
horses will be at criteria as soon as they come in the gate.
At a vet check, the vet looks for many factors in determining if
the horse is fit to continue. There is a standard "card" for riders
which lists these factors.
Heart rate, respiration rate. Respiration should be less than
heart rate unless it is hot/humid, or the horse pants. Also,
resp, should not count the pants, only the deep breaths.
Hydration. Usually done with a skin pinch test. Take pinch of skin
at the shoulder. Pull and release. The skin should snap back immediately.
A dehydrated horse may have skin tenting for several seconds.
Gut sounds. The horse should always have "gurrguling" in his guts.
Capilary refill. Take your hand and squeeze hard into a fist. Hold
then release. Look at your palm. It will take a couple seconds for
the white skin to get color back. The capilaries are refilling with
blood. The longer it takes the more stress is being placed on the
system. For the horse, lift the upper lip, press with a finger on
the horse's gum for a couple of seconds. Watch the color come back.
This should happen in a second or two. You should do this at home
just to see what is normal for you horse. This test is a good one
to know if your horse is sick - you can tell the vet, heart rate,
resp rate, cp rate, guts sounds, over the phone and the vet will
be able to judge just how fast he has to get to your place.
Muscle tone, annal tone, attitude, general impression, and a few other
items are noted.
CRI - Cardiac Recovery Index.
The vet takes the heart rate. One minute later the vet takes the
rate again. During that one minute, you must trot out the horse
100 feet (I think that's the distance) and back. The heart rate
at the end must still be at or lower than citeria. (Rider's heart
rate is not counted.)
Trot out - Also during the CRI, the vet will be inspecting the horse for
lameness. If the horse appears a bit off, the vet may ask to trot the horse
again, this time in a circle left and right. Depending on the ride and
location, any lameness may be grounds for being pulled. The Tevis ride will
pull even the slightest lameness at a couple of checks because if the
rider were to continue, a couple miles further on, there is no way to
get the horse off the trail. At most rides, a grade one lameness is
allowed to continue. A grade two will probably be pulled. A grade three
will always be pulled.
At trot out - your horse should be a loose lead. Don't hold tight to
the head. Don't pull the horse around. The horse should trot beside you.
Don't block the vet's view of the horse. Trot straight away from the
vet and straight back to him. If you need a whip or crop, take it.
Practice at home.
One other citeria you should always be look for is how you think your
horse is going. You are with the horse the entire time. You have to
be able to sense when something is wrong. If you think some thing is
wrong, tell the vet. Don't worry about being pulled. Some times the
vet will look over the problem and tell you not to worry. Other times,
the vet may be very happy you told him/her because they wouldn't
have seen the problem. You are the one that knows your horse best.
You'll know if it just isn't your horse's day to continue. Always
listen to your horse.
Consider the following two situations. At the world chapionships, one
rider realized half way through that her horse wasn't fully up to snuff,
she decided to ride for a finish and did so. (The story bit was in an
earlier digest). At a ride I was at a few years ago a woman decided her
horse was not working as he should, he was being lazy, and she pushed him
on and on. At the vet check she was pulled and the horse sent to the
hospital. He will never be ridden again because she pushed so hard his
heart was damaged. I doubt anyone here would ever push so hard. And I
don't want to scare off the new comers. Just listen to you horse and know
you horse. And don't worry about telling a vet for fear you might be pulled
for some little thing. The vets are fair.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Hewlett-Packard Company e-mail: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop A2 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-4292