competing horses with low thyroid

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a relative newbie (to endurance) de-lurking for some collective
experience..

i have an 8-year-old arab gelding i have competed in 3 25-mile rides.
he's done great -- scored well on his vets and finished a happy camper
in the middle or top third of the pack.

he has a thyroid deficiency and has been on the thyrol supplement for
about a year now. i worry about competing him in this (potentially)
stressful occupation because i know (from personal experience) that
hypothyroid horses have a greater tendency to founder.

here are my questions:

1. has anyone out there been competing a hypothyroid horse? if so, for
how long, what kind of mileage, etc.? do you find them to be
metabolically different from any non hypothyroid horse you may have had?
ie, don't handle the heat as well, etc. (i am in the hot, steamy central
region --houston -- where humidity in the summer is NORMALLY around 95%,
with temps to match..)

2. do you find that your horse's Ts-T4 test will indicate he has a low
thyroid level, even tho his physique/energy level does not match that
of the 'typical' hypothyroid horse?

3. do you find that as he gains conditioning, the thyroid level seems to
rise, even when you have not increased the supplemental thyroid dosage?

4. is it your experience that the t2-t4 test in NO WAY correlates to the
thyroid supplement dosage you are giving your horse? :-)

5. is there a more accurate test for thyroid levels than T2-T4? (I have
a call into my vet right now, because i could have sworn he mentioned
some other test that uses the horse's hair??)

thanks for any and all personal experience. my first arab, a half-arab
who was my dearest friend, eventually had to be destroyed due to
thyroid-relatred founder (despite monthly thyroid level monitoring and
supplemental thyroid) and i am absolutely terrified of this happening
again -- apparently, i am told, hypothyroidism is very common in
arabians, es. geldings..

thanks

cyndi craig farson
cyndi.farson@chron.com

donerail farm
alvin, tx

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