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Not that I would condone this type of practise :roll:
besides all the good oil you have received so far :shock:
I had a thread on this board, dealing with that probem, maybe Chris can retreive from the hands of the darstardly Hackers we had recently or I will have to start all over again, again, again :roll:
www.drtomahern.com
On the respiratory page there is just about everthing you could possibly want to know from Dr Tom at KNOCKADOON LODGE :wink:
You can drill a hole right between there eyes with a .22 :lol:
I can imagine trying to fix the psychological issues of an amimal would be pretty hard. Cesar Milan does a pretty good job with the dogs though! :lol:
just in case people interested have failed to read ALL the info
Breath-holding in horses.
Firstly is breath holding normal or abnormal , physical or psychological?
Human animals - might hold their breath momentarily when startled, or for longer periods if one was concerned at what might enter the lungs if we kept breathing. e.g.. smoke or water (diving). These are of course regarded as normal events.
There are also instances where children and others have been know to breath hold when in stressful situations. Unless they can be persuaded to begin breathing they may even 'pass out' or feint! In this case breath holding is abnormal but psychological.
An individual may also ‘breath hold’ when asleep. This is usually a symptom of a condition referred to as ‘sleep apnoea’. Apnoea is a period when normal breathing ceases. There are several types of sleep apnoea including ‘obstructive sleep apnoea’ where the physical cause is the collapse or obstruction of the upper airway or throat! Here breath holding is abnormal and also has a physical origin.
Horses - can selectively breath hold whilst walking or trotting as breathing and stride are not linked during these gaits. So to breathe once whilst taking three steps or to not breathe when distracted by a passing vehicle is quite normal when walking or trotting.
A horse may also breath hold momentarily whilst jumping an obstacle or leaving starting barriers / gates and this is regarded as being a normal event.
However once the horse breaks into a canter or a gallop, stride and breath become coupled. i.e. one stride one breath! The reason for this is that as the fore legs are extended (forward stride) the thorax (rib cage) expands and the intestines move backwards (are left behind) which together facilitate the inflow of air into the lungs (inspiration). Conversely as the the fore limbs come back and under the body the rib cage contracts to allow the shoulder to move back freely and the intestines move forward, together helping to expel air from the lungs (expiration).
If then a horse is seen to breath hold (often noted during a misty mornings gallop) or said to be breath holding (by its rider) is this a physical or psychological problem ?
If breath holding is evident only for a short period and associated with events such as the momentary contact between two horses or a sudden distraction or missed stride then it is probably a normal event.
If however breath holding occurs over a longer distance (50 to 200 meters) and particularly when associated with periods of maximum effort then it is most probably abnormal. It may also be noted that during these periods the horses head may assume a more ‘up& back’ position and some shortening of stride can occur.
So why is this occurring and is this a psychological or physical problem?
Firstly the answer to the later is that it is both psychological and physical!
To answer the first part of the question we need to understand a little about upper airways collapse. And yes it is at least similar in some respects to ‘obstructive sleep apnoea’ but in this case we are not talking about a sleep state but one of intense exercise.
The similarity between these differing circumstances is that upper airways collapse in humans ( sleep) and horses (intense exercise) is often associated with a decrease in muscular tone in the muscles of the upper airway or throat. It is of course this muscular effort that maintains the patency of the airway (Larynx & nasopharynx) and allows proper flow of air to the lungs. During sleep most muscles are of course in a more relaxed state ( worsened if alcohol is involved) whilst during intense exercise the relaxation is more often associated with the onset of muscular fatigue! (muscles running out of energy )
The other factor that increases the chance of airways obstruction in horses is an increase in the suction or negative pressures that occur as the horse breathes in (inspiration). As a horse ‘up tempos’ / increases effort towards the end of a race or gallop both length of stride and inspiratory effort increase leading to increases of these potentially airways collapsing negative pressures.
Breath holding is most often evident in horses that have previously experienced upper airways collapse during periods of maximal exercise either on the training or race track.
Then why are they now holding their breath? Doesn’t this make things worse?
The ‘upside’ of breath holding is that during these periods two positive factors come into play. Firstly the tone in the horses throat is increased and secondly inspiratory efforts are reduced. This has been referred to as Reduced Respiratory Effort (RRE). Both of these will temporarily reduce the likelihood of upper airways collapse.
Unfortunately the ‘downside’ to breath holding is that ultimately ( usually after a maximum of 200 meters) this reduce respiratory effort (RRE) will result in oxygen deprivation (anoxia) and the onset of muscular fatigue. When this occurs the horse must ‘go for air’ i.e. relax muscle tone and breathe in. At this point a large breath may be followed by rattling or raspy breathing and a slowing of pace. The horse may also take an abnormal time to recover after exercise and exhibit associated increases in heart rate and respiratory rate recovery times.
Can I do anything about this problem?
Ans. Quite obviously if you can reduce the chance of upper airways collapse during maximal exercise then you should reduce the likelihood or necessity for the horse to hold its breath!
References.
Ahern T J Acquired pharyngeal dysfunction (APD), J of Equine Vet Sci 1993 13:
Ahern T J Oral palatopharyngoplasty. A survey of one hundred post operative raced horses, J of Equine Vet Sci 1993 13: 670-672.
Dr Ahern's procedure on the pharangeal area, does not have the same draw backs, but Tom perfers not to have them swimming until they are reasonably fit during their first preparation after the operation.
Second prep "go for gold!" :)
In 3 'approx' years of racing (recent) in Western Australia ONLY
'Ahern Procedure' patients
86+ individual winners of 250+ races (from country to city) with total stakes of.......... $4.6 million.
Includes all types from country maiden winners to 2 state record holders and several other track record holders.
35 of these are still racing (kaput before surgery)
Still only available here ( most Eastern States trainers have never heard of it)... except a few recent surgeries in NSW!
Fantastic results from one procedure.
One of the still running horses, winning after surgery
http://www.rwwa.com.au/cris/viewattachment.aspx?meeting=13961&race=7&code=PHOTOFIN
The horses in this group of horse (above) gave their trainers some of the following indicators
(i) always blow too much
(ii) choke down or up!
(iii) hold their breath
(iv) are 'thick' winded but aren't 'broken' winded (paralysed larynx)
(v) gurgle in work
(vi) 'over race' and then STOP!
(vii) don't respond to tongue ties any more.
Other surgery's will not encompass some of, if not all of these ailments and sometimes are very non specific in their application.
eg: most common surgery's deal only with the laryngeal aspect of the horses throat.
Where as the above list is mostly pharyngeal related problems, which is the front area of the throat, as opposed the rear area of the Larynx
ROSE :clap:
another Ahern Procedure throat op reciever.
Winner yesterday in the GUINESS DRAUGHT HCP.
Beating very good horse Impressive Jueney in a great time of 1.22.35 secs.
EDIT: and now the winner of the Mt Barker Cup 20/03/11
Some pictures of the operation during the procedure.
Starting off!
One of the incisions
That one stitched and half way thru the job.
CANARVON CUP winnner KBENRENRUN
has had the AhernProcedure
GREY MONARCH is another TAP horse.
Now the stake monies earn't buy these post operative horses has now reached 5.1 MILLION dollars from 97 race horses.
I have replaced with a less bloody picture :roll:
Also I heard of a couple of minor wins last week with Bella Sempre at York and Foxy Belle at Northam that are recent TAP's :thumbup:
And of course Riverside Drive won again, in great style I might add
GRAND JARDIN
:whistle:
Patients of Dr Tom Ahern and his procedure.
GRAND JARDIN
LACHINO