What is the most important precaution you as a rider can take to ensure that your horse is "fit to continue" on the next leg of an endurance ride? Check the progressive recovery during the entire hold period.

During the typical gate-and-go at an AERC ride the vet will see your horse for at most a couple of minutes while you can observe your horse over a half-hour period or more. The athletic ability of our horses and the fact that as a prey animal they have the ability to mask symptoms of pain, lest the mountain lion pick them out from the herd as a meal, means our horses can come into a vet check and pass the check, even with excellent marks, and yet not be fit to continue. The horse is basically hiding the problem.

By carefully monitoring the horse's progressive recovery during the entire hold period, the wise rider can determine if the horse:

-- is in excellent shape and fit to continue

-- needs more time for rest, food, and drink

-- needs to call it a day.

Monitoring recovery

So how do you monitor the horse's progressive recovery during the hold?

At regular intervals, for example, for a 40-minute hold, 10 minutes after vetting in, 20 minutes after vetting and just before putting the saddle on, check the horse's:

-- heart rate

-- hydration level

-- gut motility

-- attitude.

Checking the above near the end of the hold is most important. If you pulled the saddle, this check should be done before you start to resaddle or give other signs to the horse that it is time to go back out on trail. For many of our horses, the excitement of going back out on trail can elevate the heart rate by eight beats or more, thus giving a inaccurate indicator. At the same time the excitement of going back on trail can cause a change in attitude that will mask an underlying problem.

If the horse has been eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping (EDPP in the jargon of our sport) and has a bright and interested "look" in his eye, the attitude is probably OK. On the other hand lack of interest in food and/or a dull or tired look may mean the horse is ADR ("ain't doing right," as we say here in the South). To assess the horse's attitude, step back from the horse and carefully observe the overall appearance, looking for subtle signs such as a wrinkled nostril or pointing of a leg that could indicate pain.

Toward the end of a hold period the horse's hydration factors (mucous membrane, capillary refill, jugular refill, and skin pinch test) should be normal. Similarly when the horse just comes off the trail the gut motility may be reduced as the horse's system has been focused on muscular work. By the end of the hold period the system should be more focused on digestion and there should be good gut sounds. To learn how to check these factors see the AERC rider's handbook (online at www.aerc.org/AERC_Rider_Handbook110303.asp or available in booklet form by request from the AERC office).

The most important indicator is probably the progressive heart rate recovery. Next month's column will be devoted just to this topic. Monitoring your horse's heart rate recovery starts with noting the time to reach the checkpoint parameter and then checking the heart rate during the hold period. The heart rate should continue to drop towards the resting level.

Practice on training rides

Each horse is different so you need to know your horse by monitoring recoveries during and after training rides and at holds during competitions. For example I have been fortunate to have two good 100-mile horses who together have won 20 100-mile competitions. The first typically took four to 10 minutes to reach parameter when coming into a hold as he was fairly heavily muscled. The second is typically at parameter within one or two minutes. If he takes four minutes or more I have learned that is a warning sign that something is not right.

Thus there are no hard and fast rules and we do not have extensive research. As a general rule of thumb, almost all horses should be below 52 at the end of a 30-minute or longer hold period except in really hot and humid weather.

If the heart rate has not recovered sufficiently by a few minutes before the end of the hold period, then consider:

-- doing a CRI and/or

-- giving the horse more time in the hold and/or

-- checking with one of the ride vets.

Try to determine the cause of the elevated pulse. If the horse has an elevated pulse from pain, the rider should call it a day. On the other hand, if the horse is just moderately tired or low on energy, an extra 20 to 30 minutes at the hold to relax and eat and drink may enable the you and the horse to continue down the trail at a moderate pace and successfully complete the ride.

In summary, monitoring the progressive recovery of the horse will enable you to know your horse better -- a key trait of the best equestrians -- and will enable you to determine if your horse is fit to continue.