The quicker you want to get things done, the longer it'll take.

Dino had his first emergency vet call on Monday. It all started simple enough. I got him out and wanted to quickly freestyle lunge him, no more than 10-15minutes and be done with it. No biggie, right? But its like a Murphy's Horse Law - the quicker you want to get things done, the longer it'll take.

After walking for three minutes, I asked Dino to trot. He took one look at me and took off in a full gallop. At first I thought, "He'll simply wear himself out in 30 seconds and we'll get down to work." Nope. Dino kept right on going, a couple of times covering 60 feet in two strides! I was trying to get him to stop by putting myself in his path and extending my lunge whip. Nope, he'd pivot in one smooth movement and go in the other direction. I'd do it again and get the same response. I kept talking to him, telling him whoa and to trot. Finally, after nearly three minutes, he came down to a trot, but I noticed he was short in the left hind. His shortness became a visible lameness and then he stopped all together, reluctant to move and was favoring his left hind. Dread filled me.

In my hast I did not put on his boots and at one point he slipped going around the corner at mock speed. He caught himself and gave a buck, but he still slipped. Now I'm thinking, "Did he break something? Dislocated something? Strain something?" I tried to get him to move and lead him off, but I couldn't. At this point he's dripping with sweat and trembling. I finally got him moved to the cross ties in the aisle and clipped him in, the steam was billowing off him in a fog. I grabbed my cooler and covered him before going over him in search of the problem. There's no swelling or heat, but his muscles are concrete. I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that he's starting to tie-up and he needed immediate medical care.

Tying-up is known medically as Equine Exertional Rhabdomyolysis (commonly known as Monday Morning Disease) and is defined as a syndrome that damages the muscle tissue in horses. What happens is the horse will usually begin showing signs right after the beginning of exercise, sometimes signs do not show up until after the horse is cooled out. Signs include reluctance to move, stiffness or shortened gait when the animal is forced to move, and muscle spasms or cramps, with hard, painful muscles (especially the hindquarters) when palpated. It looks like a lameness if you've never seen it before, but it's very serious.

Inside the body there is an inadequate flow of blood and oxygen to the muscles of an exercising horse. This inadequacy causes the muscle cells to begin functioning anaerobically to produce the needed adenosine triphosphate, a nucleotide used in energy transfer, causing a buildup of waste, acid, and heat. This keeps the cell's enzymes from functioning properly and causes damages to the cell membranes when the horse is forced to continue working, allowing muscle enzymes and myoglobin, the primary oxygen-carrier for muscles tissues, to leak into the bloodstream. The lack of oxygen to the cells causes them to die, and the pain and muscles spasms that occur are caused by the lack of blood flow to the muscle tissue.

No one really understands the causes, but it is thought to have a connection to horses who are fed a high-grain diet and could also have a genetic link. One thing is for sure: it always occurs during exercise. Other probable reasons include:

• Poor conditioning or fitness
• A sudden increase in workload
• Hard work after a period of rest
• Electrolyte or mineral imbalances, especially with potassium
• A deficiency in selenium or vitamin E
• A hormonal imbalance, especially in nervous fillies and mares
• Horses diagnosed with hypothyroidism
  
• Wet, cold, or windy weather conditions
  

Dino does still have a poor fitness level, his taking off in a full gallop was a sudden increase in work - especially since we only walk and trot, due to the weather he'd been off for five days, he's always out of water, and it was a cold day.

After covering Dino with a cooler and realizing he could be tying-up, I kept offering him small amounts of water to drink. This keeps the kidneys working and helps flush out the potentially damaging myoglobin, which can cause kidney damage. Thankfully, Dino drank each and everytime that I offered him water. I then called everyone I could and the only person I could get a hold of was my Dad who immediately came out. While my vet was unreachable the neighbor vet, Doc Adams, was and he gave Dino a shot of banamine for the pain and a shot of vitamin B1 (thiamine) to help flush out his system. Within minutes Dino felt better and quietly walked back to his stall.

What was suppose to take less than 30 minutes took three hours.

Currently Dino has been taken off his grain, remains on his fat supplement with a small amount of bute (bute until Friday), is on turnout, and now has two water buckets in his stall. Dino does have a white salt block, but I'm thinking of switching him to a red salt block that contains selenium. Hopefully this was a fluke, but if not, tests will be run to determine what deficiencies Dino has and what can be done to correct them.

In other Dino news, he has another new blanket. A 75" 1200D Heavy Amigo blanket, Angel has gained so much weight that she ripped her other blanket lying down. So Dino's 78" Landa went to Angel and Dino got a new Amigo. This is the fifth and LAST blanket/sheet for Dino. This year alone, for three horses I have gone through eight blankets/sheets for my horses. Lord help me if I have to go back into a tack shop for another one!

Also, while hand walking Dino yesterday he kindly dragged me 25 feet across a field. In five weeks I had assumed that he had seen Mr B's little white mini next door...apparently not.