TRAINING THE PERUVIAN TRAIL HORSE |
PART FIVE - CONCLUSION OF A SERIES by Julie Suhr
Author's note This series was initiated with the intent of taking a young Peruvian Paso horse from the first early training days through the completion of an endurance ride, the ultimate test of the physical capabilities of a horse Part one dealt with my background as a trail rider and my first experiences with the Peruvian Paso horse on the trail Part two explained the methods I use from the birth of the horse to adulthood to train a trail horse My subject horse is Carolana bred raised and trained by me Part three discussed the early experiences with Carolana as I explored her potential as a future endurance horse Part four was my assessment of Carolana in relation to the criteria used by the veterinarians in actual competition. In this concluding article which needs to be read in the context of those which preceded it to be completely understood, we condition for and completed our first endurance ride - fifty miles in the high Nevada desert.
With the realization that Carolana s respiratory recovery was far slower than any horse I had ever trained. I spend a few restless nights wondering how I would conclude my story on a positive note. But with a new endurance season approaching, I adopted a Scarlet O'Hara attitude: I'll worry about it tomorrow. My under five-year-old Peruvian mare was put on a back burner for the summer while I concentrated on my older horses, already seasoned endurance campaigners.
I made a lot of inquiries at the rides to find out all I could about
respiration rates and why some horses take to shallow, frequent breaths
while others take slower, deeper ones. A changing attitude among the veterinarians
and lay people is apparent as the realization comes that a rapid breather
is not necessarily suffering from oxygen deprivation, but actually could
be using his body more efficiently to dispense heat than the other horses.
Matthew Mackay-Smith, DVM, and medical editor of EQUUS magazine, said in an interview, "Horses in need of oxygen must move high volumes of air. Horses in need of cooling must take many breaths per minute. If a horse has a good pulse recovery, and does not have a serious heat problem, then panting is a sign that he is just physiologically devoting his efforts to cooling and not to oxygen debt. If he is taking deep breaths, he is moving much larger volumes of oxygen reflective of his need for oxygen. If he is taking shallow, panting breaths, he's just cooling himself and doesn't have any oxygen problem. The problem is to know what you are looking at. You can't tell by the number of breaths per minute what his physiological state is except that you know he is panting and hot. Now he may not be too hot to go on. If he is panting and has a temperature of 106 degrees then that horse is just too hot and to let him go on is bad. If a horse is taking light, shallow breaths, but has an acceptable core temperature then he is recovering well."
Taking heart from Matthew's words. I returned to a regular training program with Carolana in the fall of 1983. She was now a full five years old, mature enough to be accepted as an entry in an American Endurance Ride Conference sanctioned event, a ride of not less than fifty miles in ten to twelve hours, depending upon ride management's assessment of the trail difficulty.
Fall in the Santa Cruz Mountains is a splendid time. The breathlessness of the summer days has been gradually overcome by the crisper, more energizing, but sadly shorter days of autumn. The sleek body of the athletic horse prepares for Mother Nature's change of heart by shedding out the short, hot weather body hairs and replacing them with longer hairs. This winter coat may be a blessing for the animal to protect him through the colder months, but it is certainly not a blessing to his rider. Mow many of us have disobeyed the cardinal rules of horse ownership: never put a wet horse away; don't feed or water a worked horse until he is dry? Well, the person who can find a method for drying a wet horse with a long winter coat in foul weather will have earned my respect!
Suffice it to say, I experimented and started bending the rules a bit. Carolana seems to have suffered no ill effects. I discovered that terry cloth beach towels work well for rubbing down a damp horse that has no dry spot in which to roll or sunny spot in which to bake.
Winter arrived early in 1983. with heavy rains as early as October, but that did not slow our forays into the trail system around our ranch. We rode in all weather, and if Carolana was still wet after half an hour of my best efforts to dry her, she was turned out on the lee side of the barn, out of the wind. My horses seem to be able to stand wind or rain, but it is the combination that sends them racing for shelter. Otherwise, they much prefer the open pastures to an enclosed area except in the heat of summer when the shade of a barn seems to attract less flies.
Carolana's lack of quick respiratory recovery continued to bother me, but I accepted something I could not change as "her way" and took heart in her rapid pulse recovery and her cheerful attitude. We continued free of any leg problems, with no signs ever of wind puffs, swelling, strains, or sprains. I monitored her temperature rather closely and found that after a long ride it was usually elevated to 104.5 and a few times at 105 degrees. Within half an hour it had returned to below 102 degrees, so I felt I was within the boundaries discussed by Matthew Mackay-Smith and the various other veterinarians with whom I had discussed "our problem." (As with all of my endurance horses, I had a complete blood analysis done as well as a fecal examination . Everything was completely normal. A red blood cell count and hemoglobin check showed no deficiencies.)
Our slippery winter trails reconfirmed what I had noted with her dam *Marinera. The Peruvian horse seems to be more sure-footed. By picking up the front feet, swinging them out and then placing them with a downward motion to the ground rather than with the forward sliding motion of the ungaited horse, the Peruvian seems to gain a firmer foothold and do less stumbling. It was fun to compare the footprints of Carolana with those of an ungaited horse. On a steep, slick hill, Carolana's front feet leave almost no skid marks, but her rear hooves can leave marks of ten to twelve feet in length. The ungaited horses show slippage of up to a foot with the front feet and even longer skid marks in the rear. Even when the trails are dry, Carolana seems to be more sure of foot placement in rocky, steep sections and I seldom interfere with her head carriage or make any effort to rein her. I have perfect confidence that she will find the best and safest way to keep her balance.
Carolana's gait has undergone some changes. Originally most of our rides were by ourselves. She pasoed relentlessly except when we cantered. I had always shod her with very light weight plates, but as I increased the mileage, I was going through them in three to four weeks. I went to heavier shoes, and it made quite a difference, but not in the way I had expected. The conventional wisdom is that weight on a horse's foot creates more lift and extravagant action. This was not the case with Carolana. She leaned toward a pace when I speeded her up. But another factor may have had more influence than the heavier shoes.
At about that same time I started training with others. The paso gait leaves a horse at the walk behind. But it cannot easily keep up with the ungaited, trained endurance horse's extended trot. So I think a near-pace is easier on her than the paso where speed is needed, in this case, to keep up with the faster horses. She shifts back to the paso if we start down a hill or if the speed of the ride slackens. She does not seem to be able to paso up a steep hill as quickly as a trotting horse trots up one. She prefers to lunge it, a very energy-consuming effort, but if the slope is only slightly uphill, she breaks into a canter which is so lovely and smooth that I seek out hills for the sheer joy of experiencing the ride to the top.
I do not concern myself with any leg injuries from these efforts since I gave her more than adequate time in earlier years to build the strength required in the legs for endurance efforts. She loves to run, so reminiscent of her dam, *Marinera. The difference between the two is that it would take *Marinera one to five minutes of deep breathing to achieve complete respiratory recovery as compared to the longer panting periods that Carolana experiences after exercise.
Besides the change in gaits, Carolana's slab-sided shape that I referred to in earlier articles changed for the better. She looks fit, tucked up, but not gaunt. The forearm has noticeable developed, and the stifle and gaskin show more muscle development. She is not as rounded at the withers. I hoped for an increase in hoof size, but I do not think there has been any, although I think she has gained an inch or so in height in the last year. It has been my delight to watch her grow stronger and stronger and feel the power that a regular exercise program has developed in her.
In December of 1983 Carolana had her first trailer ride. She remembered her early loading experiences as a foal and walked right up the ramp. The grain and carrots were there as she expected, and our ride was uneventful until we became ensnarled in city traffic. She objected to a cement truck behind us at a stop light and let her displeasure be known with a few good kicks at the tailgate. No harm was done. I soon joined a friend, and Carolana had her first trail ride away from home. She was a sheer delight, interested in her surroundings and eager to go. We climbed a rather steep mountain, known as Powerhouse Grade. and crossed some ridge tops and returned down a long graveled road. Miracle of miracles, at the end she was not, panting. We live at the top of a hill so our rides at home always end with an uphill pull. This reversal - starting low. climbing high and returning to the lower elevation - solved the respiration problem for this one ride, but is was not a satisfactory solution to the mystery as far as I was concerned. It did not explain why a half hour of standing at home following a ride would leave her panting more than a half hour of downward trail.
I talked to another veterinarian who told me that walking a horse achieves quicker recovery than allowing the horse to stand. The theory is that the walking horse's blood continues to circulate faster than that of the standing animal, and circulation helps cool the body. I also discovered that we returned from a ride of three or four hours with much slower breathing than a ride of one or two hours. Apparently her body was adapting to the longer rides where oxygen replenishment became more important. I experimented with hosing off her legs and wiping her face with a wet towel. This plus the walking seem to speed her recovery, and I began to see our goal of the successful 50 mile endurance test coming a little bit closer.
By mid-January of 1984, I felt Carolana was ready to be put to the test. I was optimistic with reservations. Our success would depend upon my ability to decrease her panting to under 40 breaths per minute within 30 minutes after three or four hours of non-stop riding. If I could not, I would have to hope that the veterinarian in charge of judging her condition, had a good knowledge of the difference between an oxygen deprived horse and one that was panting to stay cool and whose core temperature was within a normal range. Otherwise, she would be disqualified.
Since there are no local rides before May, I picked a Nevada ride the last weekend in February following the annual AERC Convention. Weather would play a part as to whether we wanted to trailer over the mountains, and a good snowstorm could obviously ruin our plans. I liked the idea of a high desert ride as they do so much for man and beast. It is more than just a fleeting breath of fresh air. It i s a total commitment of anywhere from six to twelve hours of complete exhilaration, of being able to see forever, and of physical exertion that tires the body as it renews it. The lower humidity of the desert should help Carolana cool the exercise-induced body heat that is hard to dissipate in the higher humidity of the coastal ranges. I looked forward to the adventure and felt sorry for the horse who could not feel the joys not of anticipation that I was experiencing.
Post Script:
How sweet it is! The sweet smell of success! The wanting to shout "She did it!" so all can hear.
And do it she did. On Sunday, February 26, Carolana along with sixty-one other horses left the Lemon Valley arena in Nevada in 14 degree weather to pursue the finish line of a fifty-mile endurance ride in a race against the clock. With an eleven hour maximum time of allowance set by ride management, she faced the long Nevada high desert trail and conquered it mile by mile, minute by minute.
The route to the first veterinarian check point was thirty-three miles long. In the four hours and seventeen minutes it took to cover the distance, she rarely slowed to a walk with the exception of my futile efforts to get her to drink along the way. Even when the ice on the puddles was broken for her, she refused to sip. Following thirty minutes of rest at the end of thirty-three miles her pulse and respiration were well within the parameters demanded by the veterinarians, but I was not entirely happy with her condition. Her gut sounds were minimal and her eyes were injected. (See Part 4 for explanation of these terms.) But she ate voraciously and a recheck at the end of the one hour mandatory hold showed her condition completely within the strict standards demanded. The rapid respiration that had plagued her since we started heavy training was never a problem. We had guessed right; the high dry desert air and the chill of the day had kept her body temperature down, and there had been no need for the short rapid breaths of an overheated horse.
With almost two-thirds of the ride behind us, we ventured out on the brilliantly sunlit, but still cold, trail. Our pace was slowed as the mid-day slump, that is for most endurance horses, took its toll both physically and mentally. We were mostly in sandy soil which is tiring to weary legs but easier than some of the frozen ground we had crossed earlier in the day where the footing was at time precarious and the ungiving ground hard on legs made of flesh and blood.
Forty-five miles from the start she passed, with flying colors. a mandatory 68 pulse/40 respiration check and was not held but allowed back on the trail immediately. There were now six horses, all Arabians with the exception of Carolana, traveling more or less at the same pace as we entered the final phase of the ride.
Horses have an uncanny ability to sense a finish line. On a fifty mile race, the horse that seems out of gas at thirty-five miles suddenly comes to life at forty-five miles. On a one hundred mile ride it happens at about the ninety mile point. l have never understood how they know where the finish line is, in totally unfamiliar country. But my young horse, if she did not sense it herself, picked up the increased interest of the other, more seasoned, horses. The last three miles were a delightful romp at a good, fast canter down a sandy deep wash with Carolana leaping the patches of snow, dodging through the sage brush and nickering to her new-found friends if they rounded a bend and were momentarily out of sight. She crossed the finish line at a gallop exactly eight hours and thirty minutes after the 8 a.m. start. Deducting the veterinarian holds, her actual time for fifty miles was seven hours and twenty minutes. Of the sixty-two horses that started the day, fifty-two were able to complete the ride, the others having been disqualified along the way. Among the last six horses to cross the finish line, she had proven her ability to go the distance and finish in great shape with a three mile run. She hit the feed bin with a vengeance and showed no ill effects for the day's effort. She took no lame steps, and her legs as I write this, twenty-four hours after her fifty mile race and a seven hour trailer ride, show no swelling or fluid build up. Her feet are not tender, and her eyes are bright. She is young, with the peak years of endurance still three or four years down the line. So to her four sturdy legs, her willing attitude and friendship on hundreds of training miles and one grand fifty mile effort I say, "Thank you, Carolana. Fifty miles of Nevada desert lay behind you; years of good miles with a sound body lay ahead of you. Thank you for past pleasures in your good company and for one glorious day of victory. May this be just the beginning."
Note from the author:
In one last final volley to shout the joys and rewards of long distance riding, I once again would like to point to my two prime examples of what exercise can do for horses. *Marinera at age twenty-five and after nineteen years of my ownership has never had colic, has never had a cold, has had one strained tendon which kept me off of her for three weeks eighteen years ago, has had one hoof abscess of unknown origin. Her special friend, Rumadi, an Arabian gelding, is now twenty-four and "too high" for me to feel safe on without a good deal of pre-ride longeing. He has never had a sick day or a day he could not be ridden. Both horses are unblemished and sound of limb. *Marinera's emphysema, probably the result of moldy hay, is something beyond my control, and a situation I will always regret. The horse was designed to be a grazing animal, necessarily migratory. His digestive system, his cardiovascular, pulmonary and musculature system, all suffer when denied his birthright. Nothing will keep a horse fit and problem free more than regular exercise (which happens to be cheaper and more fun than calling the vet), a trim figure and an owner who keeps him as close to what nature intended him to be as possible in a modern 1984 world. So don't box him up; ride him! The benefits to the horse are only exceeded by the benefits to the rider. If it rains, get wet. If it is hot, sweat, But RIDE. And a funny thing will happen on the way back to the barn. When you dismount you will feel ten feet tall. Truer words were never spoken than "there is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."
"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man." |
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