Re: adjusting to altitude

[jlong@mti.net (Joe Long)]

On Thu, 1 Apr 1999 11:20:05 EST, Olympian06@aol.com wrote:

><< Those are some good suggestions.  But don't worry about the horses.
> "Sea-level" horses do just fine at 8,000 - 10,000 feet, even when
> racing hard for first place, as  the Race of Champions showed us.
> Even the one in Utah where base camp was over 11,000 feet, 1st place
> and the Top Ten had lots of "sea-level" horses.

>Yes, these may have been sea-level horses but I'm sure these horses were given
>time to acclimate.  You can't tell me that they pulled them out of the trailer
>on the day of the race!!  I believe the question was how long should the
>horses be allowed to rest before racing?

The day of the race?  No.  It's a good idea to give a horse a day or
two to rest and rehydrate after a long trailer trip before competing,
regardless of altitude.  Most of the horses at the ROC and other
high-altitude rides arrived only a few days before the ride.

Horses DO NOT react the same way to altitude changes that people do.
One reason that's already been mentioned is their ability to store
extra red blood cells in their spleen and bring them out when needed.

IMO someone coming from either coast to the Rocky Mountain Ride need
only plan on one or two full rest days between arrival and the first
ride day.  That is, if the first day you're riding is Monday, arrive
Friday or Saturday.  It may also help to make last overnight stop
before arriving, somewhere in Colorado or Wyoming in the 4000 - 5000
foot level, both to make the last leg of the trip a short one and to
allow a gradual increase in altitude.  This is more for the benefit of
the people than the horse.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@mti.net
http://www.mti.net     Business
http://www.rnbw.com    Personal


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