Endurance riders must be the most diverse and varied group of people ever to come together for the love of one sport. We come from all walks of life, and have as many various goals when it comes to going down the trail.
That being said, it important to realize that a common thread amongst us is the quest to set and realize those varied goals. This can work to our advantage, when conditions become adverse, and we need to "cowboy up" to get to the end of the trail. However, that same tenacious spirit and dedication to goal realization can work against us, our horses, and even our fellow competitors.
There are instances when the right thing to do is to see the reality of a situation, and gracefully step out of the play, in order to safeguard not just our own long-term goals and the goals of our compatriots, but even more importantly, to safeguard the very health and well-being of all our horses. Thankfully, these instances do not occur frequently, but we all need to be on the lookout for them, as they can be insidious in their onset.
Specifically, we all need to pay attention to what our horses are telling us, and if we see signs of infectious illness, we need to, at the very least, avoid competition, as if the competition, itself, were the proverbial plague.
Reason 1: Courtesy
There are two main reasons to avoid taking a horse to a competition if the horse is sick. The first is out of courtesy for the other competitors and their horses. Many infectious diseases are quite contagious, and are easily spread from horse to horse via direct contact, aerosol droplets, shared feed and water, and even through contact with brushes, saddlery, and human hands and shoes.
No matter how hard one might be willing to try, it would be impossible to adequately isolate a sick horse from all the other horses in camp and on trail, in order to prevent disease transmission. It would not simply be a matter of avoiding common drinking troughs, as some may think. Germs get everywhere. It is part of what makes them so effective.
A sick horse may sneeze or cough sputum onto the ground. The person picking up the manure from that horse may then acquire the germs on his or her shoes. That person may then walk through ride camp to pick up his or her rider packet, and track the itinerant germs all through camp.
The next person walking through camp can then pick up a sample of pathogens and traipse them directly into the paddock of the next horse in line. And so on.
A sick horse, needless to say, can devastate a ride season and the attendant goals for that season. It is rude and dangerous to bring a sick horse to a ride. Not only does it risk the health of every other equine in camp, it also puts at risk each and every one of the horses at home. A horse that is exposed to an infectious disease at a ride may not become symptomatic until after the event is over, and everyone has gone home and stopped remembering to take morning temperatures.
Reason 2: It's bad for your horse
For those self-centered individuals who may not set much importance in the health of horses belonging to others, there is yet another reason not to bring a sick horse to a competition. It is dangerous for the sick horse, and may make the illness much worse.
Travel, as we all know by now, causes significant stress for a horse, no matter how good an eater and drinker that horse may be while on the road. As well, the stress of an actual limited distance or endurance ride may place such a burden on an immune system already working at maximum capacity, as to render the disease process insurmountable for the horse.
If one has any doubts, think about running a marathon with a sore throat and a cough. Not only would it be extremely unpleasant, it would also be dangerous.
More stress equates to more compromise, which in turn equates to more severe disease progression. In our marathon example, a complication of the simple upper respiratory tract infection may well be pneumonia. That would really ruin a season, not to mention putting a respiratory system's function at risk, perhaps even for life.
Watch for these symptoms
Temperature. There are a few simple steps that can be taken to avoid this situation. The first is to know a horse's normal resting temperature, and to monitor a horse's temperature on a daily basis for the final few days leading up to an endurance ride. For many of the viral infectious diseases, the first symptom will be a fever. If your horse has an elevated temperature before a ride, do not go to the ride!
Some symptoms of an infectious illness are easier to spot, but no less important:
Runny nose/cough. If your horse has a snotty nose or a cough, do not go to the ride!
Decreased appetite/diarrhea. If your horse has a decreased appetite or diarrhea before a ride, do not go to the ride!
Exposure to illness. In addition, any horse exposed, but not yet symptomatic, should also not be taken to competition. In many cases, a horse may be infectious before there are any signs other than an elevated temperature, which can be easy to miss if one is not diligent in checking temperatures.
If you fail to notice any of these symptoms before you leave for the ride, and only discover them while in camp, immediately notify ride management, preferably one of the vets, and take whatever reasonable, immediate steps you can to isolate your horse from other horses. Do not handle other horses after handling the sick horse.
The best case will most likely be for you to remove the sick horse from the ride camp. This action, as difficult logistically and emotionally as it may be for you, will make you the hero who did the right thing for your horse and for all the other competitors, both human and equine, in camp.
It is all too easy for endurance competitors to get caught up in the goals of a particular season, and to create a reality based upon those goals. Do not be blind to the true reality of a situation in your desire to pursue your goals. If you have a sick horse, or a horse that has potentially been exposed to an infectious disease, do not compound the problem by putting every other horse in a ride camp at risk. Do the right thing, retire with grace, and try again another day.
