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Post by Goalie on Jan 11, 2014 10:24:06 GMT -5
I know this is an old thread, but someone is giving me some OTTBs tomorrow. One of them is supposed to have a flapper problem and I believe it has flipped before. I am considering him for a polocrosse horse. The game of polocrosse is high paced similar to regular polo. Each horse plays for 8 minutes straight at rapid start stop speeds. Then they take an 8 minute break, then another 8 minutes. They are only allowed to play a total of 16 minutes per day. It requires the horse to be physically fit the same as an eventer or any other sport horse. I am wondering if this sport will be too much like racing since they do sprint a lot or would it be different since the polocrosse field is only 160 yards long. How do i determine the level of the problem (1-4) as was posted previously?
This is from the Thread" Roaring or Flapping" in our horse health board. A new member auburngrad1992 has asked and I hope someone can help her. Thanks for reading.
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Post by ZenRider on Jan 11, 2014 11:49:29 GMT -5
I can't answer the medical issue. Teach is the best for that.
However, having had experience with a flipper many years ago, that is something I would investigate more thoroughly. If it was a once time incident and depending on the particulars to that incident, it may be nothing to worry about. If it was a recurring problem, I would pass on the horse for a riding horse. Much as training and gaining the horses confidence helped, it was an underlying problem that never went entirely away and made the horse very unpredictable and dangerous to ride.
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Post by jenarby on Jan 11, 2014 21:28:13 GMT -5
You would need more info. Partially or fully paralysed? Does he roar? Usually a horse that flips its palate is fine for other disciplines because nothing else really makes them breath or stress quite as hard as racing does.
If the horse has had tie back surgery then he should be able to breathe but may make some noise. In most cases breathing problems in racehorses do not come into play in other sports. Unless it is in the hunter ring and the horse makes noise.
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Post by ZenRider on Jan 11, 2014 23:09:03 GMT -5
ack, reading Jen's post, and Jen is very knowledgeable in all things race horse, I realize I totally misread your post. I thought you meant the horse had actually flipped, not as part of the throat issue, so totally disregard my post as far as flipping goes.
Many racehorses have transitioned to playing polo and likely, by now, polocrosse, so that in itself should not be an issue.
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Post by auburngrad1992 on Jan 13, 2014 15:06:58 GMT -5
I just found out more information about this particular horse. I thought I was getting a different horse without the flapper issue but it apparently I ended up getting one of the horses that did have the flapper issue. Sorry to be confusing but I was getting 4 potential horses and ended up with only two.
What I have found out is that the horse only had trouble a few times on the track so they were tired him. I was told that he only had trouble when he got anxious or excited. I was wrong in thinking that the horse pallette had flipped, it has not. Does giving the horse a new job with different responsibilities change this condition or is it a permanent physical condition?
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Post by jenarby on Jan 16, 2014 23:44:48 GMT -5
The issue never goes away. It is a defect the horse was born with. However taking stresses out of their job....teaching them to relax...and swallow (that flips the palate back)helps. The strain racing puts on a horse usually cant be recreated in other disciplines....and if they have trouble breathing in a lower stress environment...then their problem is probably much worse than you think. Your best best (to know for sure) is to have a vet scope them after exercise.
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