In addition to a pre- and post-inspection, FEI endurance races include at least one compulsory hold of 40 minutes with an additional vet check. Arthur B. King, DVM of Fort Erie, ON, is an FEI 3* Endurance Official Veterinarian and 3* Endurance Veterinary Treatment Official, and he took us through what goes on behind the scenes to keep horses healthy throughout the day of competition.
Arthur B. King, DVM of Fort Erie, ON explained the behind-the-scenes workings of an endurance vet check.
Read on to get the inside scoop from Arthur!
Equestrian Canada: What are the components of an endurance vet check?
Arthur King: It’s very simple, really. The main thing is to make sure the horse is reasonably sound. It’s just like marathon runners: If you watch them, a lot of them have odd ways of going and part of it is the way they’re put together – confirmation as opposed to an unsoundness that’s painful. But if the horse has a consistent gate aberration, something abnormal that they didn’t start with, then it gets eliminated.
The other important thing is to make sure that the horse is metabolically stable, so if it’s eating alright and that its heart rate is coming down. Obviously, horses have a high heart rate when they’re on the trail, but when they come into the vet check they should recover down to 64bpm in a matter of minutes and probably 48bpm or less by the time they’re going out on the trail again.
We’re not only looking for the heart rate, but the rhythm. We want to make sure it’s a steady rhythm, not speeding up and slowing down, because they can have a heart rate of 64bpm but it might be several fast beats and several slow beats, or skipping beats. There’s nothing wrong with skipping beats as long as it’s rhythmic, in fact it’s often a sign of a fit horse when it’s dropping heartbeats. But rhythm is just as important as the overall count, and obviously gut sounds, as well.
They should be eating and drinking during that time. The reason it’s important that they eat and drink is because they need to make up for the energy and electrolytes that they lost during the previous section of the trail.
We’re also looking at capillary refill and mucous membranes. When we’re looking at the mucus membranes in the mouth, we’re making sure they’re moist as opposed to dry, which indicates dehydration, and making sure the mucus membranes are a normal pink color, that they’re not too pale, or worse yet, red and what we call injected from dryness and toxemia. The other place we look to see if the horse is in trouble is right along where the gum and the teeth meet. We’re making sure there’s no toxic line, which can be a problem if they have a laminitis or colic developing, or sometimes you get it in tying up as well. And we want to make sure the horses are moving freely and there’s no sign that there’s tightness in the muscles, which can be part of tying up.
It’s not a difficult examination and we’re not using any fancy tools, just a stethoscope and thermometer if we think that the horse’s temperature is too high.
Arthur checks a horse’s heart rate in between loops.
Photo Credit: ©EC/Caroline Soble
EC: What’s the deal with electrolytes?
AK: There’s no question that horses benefit from electrolytes and the right formulations of them so that you’re replacing the proper quantity of what’s lost. I helped with the electrolyte research back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. We knew about electrolytes, and there was a formula out there of table salt (sodium chloride), potassium chloride and a dolomite. Those three chemicals contain everything that horses are losing: sweat. They had done research on horses and knew what was in the sweat, but hadn’t figured out exactly how much sweat the horses lose, therefore how many electrolytes they lose and how much needs to be replaced during the ride. And there’s still a big debate on that.
The big difference with horses compared to people is that when people sweat, we lose more water than we do salt, and we can replace the water. In the cases of horses, they lose more salt relative to water, so you have to replace the electrolytes. People drink Gatorade, but horses actually need to drink salt water to get through a ride.
EC: What should riders be doing during the vet check?
AK: Under FEI rules, you’re only allowed one presentation. During the jog, the horse should trot on a loose rein straight out and straight back again. You should be back at the shoulder in stride with the horse. Too many riders get out in front of the horse and then they start dragging it, holding the lead line too short. So then the normal movement that the horse goes through will makes the horse look lame because every now and then, the lead line will get tight and make it look like it’s bobbing its head when in fact it’s not.
During the vet checks, too often people make excuses for their horses. Too many people think, “Oh, he didn’t eat because of this or didn’t drink water because of that. He doesn’t like the water here, he’s not at home.” When they start making excuses for the horse, I say to the riders that ‘your horse is trying to tell you something, you need to listen.’
Sometimes, some riders get caught up in the competition and aren’t paying attention to the horse. They get upset about something else, like getting lost on the trail, trail vandalism, thinking the timer made a mistake, or somebody got their ride card messed up, so they’re not focused on their ride. Horses feed off somebody that gets excited.
EC: What changes have you seen over your years of involvement with endurance?
AK: Obviously tack has changed, particularly shoeing techniques. People have learned more about how endurance horses need to be shod – because you’re traveling over long distance for speed, the breakover is really important. And then there are different materials: Aluminum shoes tend to work, they’re lighter but tend to wear. They’ve gone to some of the composite materials, plastic and rubber shoes that they glue on for the day of the ride. So the technology has changed.
All of it relates to balance. If the saddle doesn’t fit, the rider can’t be balanced. If the rider isn’t balanced, then it doesn’t matter what else goes on. And if the feet aren’t balanced, then the horse isn’t traveling properly. It’s all tied together.
We’ve learned a lot about nutrition, so horses aren’t getting tied up as much. We still see tying up, but not as much as we used to and we don’t see as many thin horses because we’ve learned about feeding, especially fat – you get energy into the horse without increasing the risk of colic and laminitis.
We hardly see thumps anymore at all. It’s called thumps because the horse actually starts to make a thumping or a hiccuping noise. It happens in people, racing dogs and horses, and it relates to the phrenic nerve, which goes over or under the heart, depending on whether it’s human, horse or dog. It goes close enough to the heart and diaphragm that when the heart beats, it stimulates an electrical impulse in that nerve if your electrolytes are out of whack. So by getting electrolytes sorted out, we’ve solved a lot of the problem with the thump.
The other thing we’ve learned is that these horses need a lot more vitamin E and selenium then the national research requirements would lead you to believe. That probably applies to a lot of species over the years – that recommendations for vitamins have increased. And obviously there have been developments that affect endurance horses as far as general equine health and sports medicine, with stem cell therapy for some of the soft tissue lameness, the management of the lower limb fractures and so on. Those advances have made a big difference.
For more information on endurance, visit www.equestrian.ca/sport/endurance.