Lactic acid build-up remains a concern for horses, must be monitored for their health
No domestic animal inspires more romance and fascination than the horse.
Still, its popularity in our country has gone full circle. In the last two centuries, horses were the primary source of power on the farm and in the streets of our cities. This trend carried into the 20th century until horses were totally replaced by tractors and automobiles.
The horse population of the United States was at an all-time low in the war years of the 1940s. As the peacetime economy improved in the ’50s and ’60s, a resurgence of interest in the horse as a companion and as an athletic competitor brought the animal back in to the lives of families everywhere in our country.
Most horses today don’t have to perform the lifelong toil of earning their keep, as did the horses of the last century. Nonetheless, they are just as susceptible to the condition that the dray-horse owner named “Monday Morning Disease.”
When horses were worked hard all day for six days, they required a diet heavy in grain. If the horses were rested, as usual, on the seventh day (Sunday), but still given their normal large amount of grain, the owner sometimes found that they became paralyzed in the middle of their workday on Monday. This occurred because of a tremendous buildup of lactic acid in the animal’s muscle tissue. The lactic acid was the result of heavy work after a day of rest with heavy feed.
We see this same problem today with the competitive horse or the pet horse. If a horse is given a good grain ration on rest days and then asked to exercise or work hard the following day, the animal may suddenly be unable to move. The condition may improve merely with rest or may progress to colic, kidney failure, shock or death of the horse.
The problem is more prevalent in areas such as ours in the Northwest where native hays and grains are often deficient in the mineral selenium. Selenium is used by the body to counteract the potential damage done by lactic acid.
We need to consider this condition as we plan the diet and exercise program of our horses. The animal should not be on a steady high-grain diet while being given sporadic work.
Even with the most careful planning, some animals will experience this “tieing up” of the muscles. Horses should be periodically tested to determine their blood levels of selenium.
Most horses that are used actively in our area require some selenium supplementation. Too much selenium, however, can be as dangerous as too little.
Lastly, any horse that shows a sudden stiffness and reluctance to move should be immediately rested and given prompt medical attention.
(Dr. Fred Conkel is a veterinarian of the Westgate Clinic in Libby).