Exercise intolerance

[Burnttoast]

I suspect this might be too vague to be of use to anyone, really, but I'm trying to be hypothetical here (horse concerned is not mine). How would you define this - as in its manifestations physically and in terms of mental attitude? And what would you look to re causes? And if anyone would be happy for me to PM them on the subject, I'd be grateful.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Depends what you mean by intolerance. Refusal to work is different from inability to work and I'd class exercise intolerance as inability to work. I can think of a ton of things that might contribute, anything from poorly fitting tack to heart murmurs etc. But my own experience of exercise intolerance is with my veteran who developed Summer Pasture Associated COPD, ie severe pollen allergy. This has damaged his lungs so badly that he is unable to get enough oxygen into his body to carry a rider and work. Even just walking up a gentle slope to the school makes him struggle: he will stop and stare fixedly ahead with flared nostrils and I got a terrible feeling that he was going to collapse underneath me. He is now fully retired and is quite happy just pootling about the field and his stable. What symptoms does the horse you are concerned about show?

 

[Burnttoast]

This is what I put on the other thread:
It could be interpreted as laziness (there's a degree of resentment/stroppiness when under pressure physically). Main things are respiratory effort out of proportion to workload/in comparison with similarly worked horses, and feeling of hitting a brick wall/grinding to a halt after a really surprisingly short amount of effort (eg, 100 yards is a fair canter!). Level of work consistent (light) but tolerance to it does not seem to improve. Never hots up in company or when repeating faster work - the opposite happens in fact.

And I'm thinking about recovery rates (he can't walk it off, has to stand still for a while before he'll stop blowing [after a gentle trot/canter hack, not 'fast' work]) and the fact that sometimes he'll have flared nostrils just walking in from the field (not cos he's seen a monster ). If he sees 'hard' work coming (the track I once did baby interval work on was a problem for weeks afterwards) he has a strop disproportional to the apparent effort required to do the actual work. Could be 'attitude', just doesn't feel right.

 

[Black_Horse_White]

That is very similar to how my horse is in the school, but hacking out and in company he does go up a few gears. He has flared nostrils when walking in from the field. In the school it's constant leg to get him to trot. But out hacking no leg is needed. I've only had him for 6 months and maybe this Is normal for him.

 

[flintfootfilly]

I think it might be best to be as specific as you can about signs when you (or your friend) talks to a vet. From what you've said at the moment, it just sounds too general to pinpoint anything, and I could imagine just paying a vet callout and getting no answers from that (although some vets are better than others at homing in on more subtle problems).

The heavy breathing might be there as a result of pain somewhere else, so it's more a reflection of pain than anything else. Or it might be there's some kind of problem with the airway itself, for example.

Needing to stand still to recover after doing 100 metres or so of canter may or may not be attributable to a problem. For example, if there's muscle damage it could acount for it, but so could an airway problem, or general lack of fitness, I guess.

Personally, as a starting point I would opt for a comprehensive blood test whatever, because that might show up something like anaemia (which might account for lack of energy), or muscle enzymes (indicating muscle damage and/or some level of tying up) or infections or other problems.

My big lad with muscle problems (like chronic tying up) was originally described by a vet at "strong-willed and stubborn". It turns out that his muscle enzymes are around 10 times the maximum that they should be in a normal horse. So really it turns out that he has been amazingly tolerant in the face of quite severe problems. I guess that's when it comes down to knowing the horse, and being very objective about whether what you are asking should be achievable in a "normal" horse, and whether handler/rider effectiveness is in any doubt.

Good luck.

Sarah

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Count his breaths per minute: one inhale + one exhale = 1 breath. Normal rates are between 8 and 12 breaths per minute at rest. Wait til your horse is in his stable and completely relaxed. Watch his sides moving gently in and out for a few minutes before you start your count, just to get the idea. Sometimes laying a hand against the horse's sides can help but I don't. To make things easier, you can just count for 30 seconds then double it for a minute, eg if you count 20 breaths in 30 seconds, then it doubles to 40 for the full minute. My boy's breaths per minute are a scary 45 at rest and if under stress, shoot up to 60+ and I have to stop counting because it frightens me! If your boy's breaths are up, even at rest, then he's got something going on. If his heart rate is up as well it could be a pain thing. If the heart rate is normal but lung sounds are dodgy, it's probably safe to say it's a respiration problem and needs further investigation eg scoping, lung wash.

 

[Burnttoast]

Getting a fix on resting tpr is my next aim but slightly tricky in that I don't see him too frequently. Gonna be fun, as he is so blooming nervy! Anyway, he's off for schooling x2 weeks shortly anyway, so all is on hold until he's back and we can see where he is then.

My point of reference (ie, what I think should be normal) is the work I've done in the past fittening hunters and endurance horses up from grass, so I know how I would expect the process to go from step one and what would flag up potential trouble. Haven't done it for some years now, but the principles don't change.