Re: Hot weather syndrome

["Michelle Rowe" <michrowe@frontier.net>]

John and Sue -

It would be interesting to know the following about the riders of the horses
at the CTR with problems:

1.  Did the rider do conditioning work with their horses leading up to the
ride?  Did they pull them out of pasture and expect to ride?
2.  Did the rider sponge and use other measures to help their horses with
the heat?
3.  Were the riders knowledgeable enough to know their horse was in trouble?

At the CTR I just rode at 4 horses were pulled.  One with colic, one whose
PR never came down, and I'm not sure about the other two.  However, the
advise I got at the ride was totally different from the advise I get on
Ridecamp.  For example, don't put cold water on your horses muscles on the
back legs, he'll cramp up (this from an endurance rider).  I have a feeling
there's a widening learning gap between those of us connected with
technology and those without.  I wonder how many of the problems at CTR
rides are related to folks not knowing what to expect and not knowing how to
tell if they are pushing to hard on their horse.  I'd be interested to hear
your opinion on the riders that had the severe problems.

One way to remedy this would be for CTR groups to have outreach rides in the
spring where novices can go to shorter rides, and you learn how to take care
of your horse, how to check your saddle fit, how to *ride* your horse in
tough terrain, how to check your  p/r, conditioning work, shoeing, sponging,
feeding, etc.  Currently there is no good channel for spreading this info in
a cohesive format that new people can really benefit from (other than us
asking silly questions in ridecamp - hardly cohesive).  A lot of novices at
the ride I was at were left asking "how" to do things right.

m
----- Original Message -----
From: John & Sue Greenall <greenall@vermontel.net>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 1999 9:50 AM
Subject: RC: Hot weather syndrome


> I just got done managing the 64th running of the Green Mountain
> 100 mile ride in Vermont.  It is a CTR, 100 miles in three days at 6-
> 7 mph.  It is over a lot of hills (Vermont ain't flat) and the weather
> turned very hot (87 on Sat).  We had horses with thumps which I
> have not seen in years, dehydration colic and one intestinal
> entrapment.  Thank goodness for Jeannie Waldron!
>
> This is NOT the first ride this year that such has happened.  The
> New York 100, also a CTR, had similar casualties.  It is unusual to
> see this amount and level of problems at CTR where the speed is
> slower and the rules are geared to be "safe" for the horse.
>
> What I saw at endurance rides this summer was worse.  Vermont
> 100 (very hot, humid) had less than 50% complete.  PAC had a
> very busy treatment barn and two horse were shipped to a vet
> hospital.
>
> WHAT ARE WE MISSING?  This is NOT how the sport is
> supposed to be.   Tie ups and dehydration colic seem to be the
> main issues.  I know that the riders are doing everything they can
> to help their horses and I know that the vets are keeping a very
> watchful eye out, but it still happening at a very concerning rate.  It
> is what we DON'T know that worries me.  So many of us think that
> riding slower makes it safer, but that is not what I have seen this
> year.
>
> The only "fixes" I can see is providing more water opportunities for
> the horses in hot weather and extending the hold times or adding a
> hold so that the horses don't go as far between stops.  Neither is
> that easy to do at last minute.
>
> I would love to open this up for discussion.  To take healthy, fit
> horses and put them at risk (50% means it's either you or the guy
> next to you that ends up on the IV) is not good sport.
> John and Sue Greenall
> mailto:greenall@vermontel.net
> http://www.vermontel.com/~greenall
>
>
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=