The next day, Saturday I decided to ride more severe topography
with a friend. We began warming up by walking up hill until
sufficiently warmed up and then began trotting up moderate grades
until my monitor read 180 and then backing off allowing time for
recovery. All went well. About 5 miles out Ishtaur (my horse)
urinated good yellow color and had nice heartrate recoveries.
Approximately half way out, road closure caused us to alter our
route. We cut cross country diagonally across drainages the slopes
were moderately steep and required considerable exertion. At times
Ishtaur's heartrate went over 200 for short periods. When his
heartrate increased to anaerobic we cut back the pace to a walk
until his heartrate recovered to satisfactory levels. At a fence
crossing Ishtaur had to urinate, but only dribbled. At the time I
was unconcerned. Then again a few miles ahead he tried to urinate
and only dribbled. I began to read the signs my horse was giving
me, but wasn't sure how they should be interpreted. I thought he
may have gotten some dirt up in his sheath and the irritation was
causing him to try to urinate repeatedly. A few more miles and
again he tried, but only dribbled. We decided to turn around and
start back. I kept tabs on his heartrate rate, compared to my
riding partner's horse. Ishtaur seamed to elevate faster but
dropped at a relative constant rate as did the other horses
heartrate. All else was good sweat/cooling, temperament, gait etc.
On one of the steeper slopes we trotted up to the top, a pretty
good workout, we stopped at the top to let the heartrate recover.
Ishtaur's heartrate went over 200 and dropped rapidly to 100 and
then slower there after. He tried to urinate again and his heart
rate remained slightly higher than the other horses. Was my horse
just getting tired? Did he have something irritating him? Was he
displaying signs of trouble we hadn't thought of? We decided to
walk and take the easiest route back. The way back proved
uneventful. Ishtaur's heartrate dropped to below 64, bright/alert,
smooth gait, good cooling, except he didn't drink at watering
stops, he chose to graze the lush grasses along the creek. I let
him graze. We made it back. That night I fed him his usual. He
ate and drank well. The next day I decided to take a light ride in
the foothills with another friend. We proceeded out and covered
approximately 10 to 12 miles of typical Idaho foothills terrain.
Ishtaur ate and drank well. He urinated twice and it was clear
yellow with acceptable volumes. The only thing I noticed was his
heart rate elevated more rapidly than normal on steep terrain so I
cut back at a heartrate of 160 allowing him to recover, no pushing
him. The ride ended well. He remained alert, good sweat/cooling,
heartrate recovery and urination volume and color.
The next week Ishtaur was scheduled for his spring shots, worming,
teeth floating and sheath cleaning. I told the vet my story and
informed him I thought he had a dirty sheath that was irritating
him. The vet asked me several questions and told me Ishtaur's
sheath was not that dirty and he could find no irritation or bean.
He said that it was a good decision to cut back on the exercise
when we did. He said that some horses when over exerted begin to
develop lactic acid in their muscles, similar to a runner running
up hill to the point his legs get weak and exhibit a tingling
burning sensation. He told me his blood stream was removing lactic
acid and concentrating it in the kidneys thus prompting him to
urinate. I ask him if Ishtaur was tying up and he responded with
terminology that went straight over my head. The gist of it was,
some horses exhibit signs of lactic acid generation.
Has anyone else experienced these signs or has any knowledge of
these symptoms? If so I could really use the feed back.
Sonny Hornbaker
Boise, Idaho