Equine Medical Alert:

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Equine Medical Alert
How to Deal With Colic, Heat Stress, and
Dehydration on the Trail

• Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS
• www.allcreaturesanimalhealth.com
• Chris White, ESMT
• HorseMasseuse_at_aol.com

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Equipment youneed to carry with you at all times

• Stethoscope
• Watch
• Thermometer (digital or ?)
• Sponge or scoop
• Water-carrying device(s)
• Water bottles
• Collapsing Wad-R bucket
• Heavy duty gallon baggie

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Equipment NOT to carry with you

• Banamine
• Bute
• Anything else requiringa prescription or
  vetlicense to obtain
• Why not?

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• Vet needs to see yourhorse without guessingat
  the influence of drugsalready administered

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• Vet needs to see yourhorse without guessingat
  the influence of drugsalready administered
• Past expiration date?

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• Vet needs to see yourhorse without guessingat
  the influence of drugsalready administered
• Past expiration date?
• Poor GI motility meanspoor absorption of
  oralmeds no benefit

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• Vet needs to see yourhorse without guessingat
  the influence of drugsalready administered
• Past expiration date?
• Poor GI motility meanspoor absorption of
  oralmeds no benefit
• Renal damage indehydrated horses

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• Vet needs to see yourhorse without guessingat
  the influence of drugsalready administered
• Past expiration date?
• Poor GI motility meanspoor absorption of
  oralmeds no benefit
• Renal damage indehydrated horses
• Other adverse effects (ie, ace)

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Identifying a problem

• Normal pulse parameters
• Resting pulse 28 48 beats per minute
• On the trail, progressive recovery provides
  better information
• Horses can be actively colicing at almost ANY
  heart rate

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Not here.
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Not here. Here.
X
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Other colic indicators

• Sweat patterns helpful at home, not on the trail
• Obvious discomfort
• Looking at side
• Kicking at belly
• Trying to lie down
• Poop and colic are not mutually exclusive
  concepts

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Other colic indicators

• Diminished or absent gut sounds
• This requires familiarity with your horses
  normal sounds

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• Ten oclock, eight oclock on left side
• Two oclock and four oclock on right side
• GOOD Low-pitched grumbling/rumbling every 5-15
  seconds
• NOT SO GOODTinkling, splashing, silence,
  continuous sounds, toink (ping)

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Okay. Now what?

• Reduce exertion level (duh)
• Loosen girth (dont undo it entirely)

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Okay. Now what?

• Reduce exertion level (duh)
• Loosen girth (dont undo it entirely)
• Get off and walk. Yes, walk. On your own two
  feet. Really.

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Why?

• Blood flow priority list
• Heart, lungs, brain (life support)
• Muscles (locomotion)
• Skin (thermoregulation)

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Why?

• Blood flow priority list
• Heart, lungs, brain (life support)
• Muscles (locomotion)
• Skin (thermoregulation)
• Digestive organs
• Diminished blood flow poor gut motility colic

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• Decrease exertion Increase blood flow to GI
  tract and increase GI motility

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• Decrease exertion Increase blood flow to GI
  tract and increase GI motility
• Maximal blood flow to GI tract at 20 VO2max
• A brisk walk or slow jog
• Dont walk like hes glass
• Trot may be too painful if gas bubbles or pending
  impaction

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What else can I do?

• Massage at acupuncturecolic points
• Fingertipsor flat handmassagingcircles
• 1-2 minutesper site

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Focus on loin and abdomen points
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• Same points as for listening to gut sounds

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• Same points as for listening to gut sounds
• Ten oclock and eight oclock on the left
• Two oclock and four oclock on the right

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• Same points as for listening to gut sounds
• Ten oclock and eight oclock on the left
• Two oclock and four oclock on the right
• Stand at girth and reach back to avoid kicks
• Use flat hand, long, firm sweeping strokes and
  circles with heel of hand

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• San Jiang (three streams)
• Da Mai (large vessel)
• Located on angular vein 2 and 4 below inner
  corner of eye
• Good points for a second person or if horse is
  too agitated to massage belly

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• Use fingertips, small gentle circles
• You dont have to press hard

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• Er Jian
• Vein inside tip of ear
• Colic, heat stroke, shock
• Small, gentle circles both inside and outside of
  ear

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• Gently stroke/pull along entire length of ear
• Works several acupuncture points at once
• During a colic crisis is not the time to try this
  out for the very first time

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• Er Men (ear gate)
• Three finger width depression in front of base of
  ear
• Small gentle circles

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Never syringe mineral oil orally!

• Smooth texture does not elicit a good swallowing
  response
• Can easily cause aspiration pneumonia
• Not enough to do any good
• Mineral oil added to mash is also fairly useless

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Heat Stress

• About 70-75of the energy inevery calorie
  burnedis released as heat

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Heat Stress

• About 70-75of the energy inevery calorie
  burnedis released as heat
• Heat as a by-product of exercise
• 50 miles 150 pound block of ice gt boil

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Heat Stress

• Submaximal exerciseheat if not dissipated
  0.56 degrees F/min
• 33 degree F rise incore temp/hour
• Lethal core temp in lt 15 minutes of submaximal
  exercise
• lt 5 minutes of maximal exercise
• My horse never breaks a sweat.

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Heat Stress

• Normal equine rectal temp 100.5 F /- 1
• AERC guidelines adviseactive cooling of horse
  when rectal temp exceeds 103
• 105 in danger of developing more severe disease
• 108 approaching lethal
• Carry a thermometer with you!
• Digital vs. conventional

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Heat loss pathways

• Evaporation vaporization of sweat, saliva,
  respiratory fluids
• 65 of heat loss at maximum efficiency
• Efficiency decreases as humidity and air temp
  increases
• Convection (air or water across skin surface)
• Radiation movement of heat without direct
  contact
• Solar radiation, reflection off sand, concrete
• Conduction direct contact with warmer/cooler
  surface

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Heat loss

• Evaporationis the mostimportant heat
  losspathway duringongoing exercise

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Heat loss

• Conduction andconvection are by farthe most
  importantpathways to activelymanipulate on the
  trail if water is available

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Heat loss

• Conduction andconvection are by farthe most
  importantpathways to activelymanipulate on the
  trail if water is available
• Translation lots of water

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Heat loss

• No brainers
• Stop exercise
• Strip tack
• Find shade
• Maximize evaporative cooling area, minimize solar
  radiation heat gains

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• Continuous sponging with cool water if available
• Utilizes convectionand conduction
• Dont let water justsit there
• Sponge, scrape, repeat
• Thin layer of water heats to skin temp, acts as
  insulating layer if not removed (same for towels)
• Evaporation too slow
• Dripping only removes minimal heat

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Myth

• Never let a hot horsedrink more than a sip(or
  hell colic, founder, refuse to get in
  thetrailer, and/or die)
• Reality let him drink all he wants, but then
  WALK for a few minutes to allow blood flow to
  warm water in stomach and then return back to
  muscles

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Myth

• Never let a hot horsedrink COLD water(or hell
  colic, founder, refuse to get in thetrailer,
  and/or die)
• Reality Walk a few minutes longer

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Myth

• Never put cold waterover the hindquartersor
  hell cramp
• Reality Ice water bathnot very pleasant, but
  harmless
• Less efficient than cool water and repetitive
  scraping constricts surface capillaries,
  removes less heat than dilated vessels

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Preventing dehydration

• Offer water at trailer before and after ride
  dont just saddle and go
• Add flavorings if necessary
• Cider vinegar, apple juice, Gatorade, Kool-Aid,
  Horse Quencher
• Teach your horse to drink from containers on the
  trail
• WadR buckets, large heavy-duty baggie, scoop,
  etc

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Preventing dehydration

• Syringe salt before trailering and before every
  ride
• Raise plasma sodium gt elicits thirst gt
  encourages drinking out on trail
• You cannot train the kidneys to conserve
  elytes

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• Dont underestimate transport stress
• Horses lose an average of 3 kg (0.8 gal) of fluid
  per hour of travel under ambient conditions
• 1 dehydration per 90 minutes of travel
• Thermoregulation and performance is adversely
  affected at 2-3 dehydration

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Final thoughtHaving the right attitude during
adversity is everything.