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If he is moderately dehydrated, the skin will stay elevated 2 or 3 seconds after you pull it out. If he is severely dehydrated, the pinch of skin may stay elevated for as long as 6 to l0 seconds before it sinks back into place. The pinch test can usually reveal dehydration of 4 to 5 percent (water-loss induced decrease in body weight) or greater. The pinch test is best performed at the point of the shoulder. Skin over the neck is looser and stands up more readily when pinched, making it a less accurate test of dehydration. But even at the shoulder, the pinch test is not always accurate. A lean, thin-skinned horse may be difficult to judge, since thinner skin has less fat beneath it; the skin will pinch up more easily and stay folded up longer than that of a fatter individual. Know your own horse. Discover what his "normal" pinch test time is--when he is not dehydrated--and also look for other signs of dehydration.
A dehydrated horse will have a SLOW CAPILLARY REFILL. If you press your finger into his gum--pressing away the blood for a moment--blood should come rushing back to the area as soon as you remove your finger, in a normal horse. The pale spot should disappear almost immediately. But in a dehydrated horse, the spot you pressed will stay pale and bloodless for several seconds; blood is coming back slowly instead of swiftly. The more dehydrated the horse, the slower the capillary refill time. The color of the MUCOUS MEMBRANE UNDER THE EYELID can also tell you a lot. Learn what color is "normal" while teaching your horse to tolerate your examination, during his early conditioning period. A pink to pink-yellow color is normal. The more stressed and dehydrated a horse becomes, the more red the inside of his eyelids will be. He is in trouble if it becomes brick red, and as his condition worsens the color will become blue--which is a sign of oxygen shortage. The EYES of a dehydrated horse will seem SUNKEN AND DULL and his EYELIDS may appear WRINKLED. This is due to shrinking of fat around the eyeballs (lack of water in these tissues), which makes the eyes seem sunk into his head. The clear covering (cornea) over the front of the eyeball tends to dry out when a horse is dehydrated. Normally it is moist and bright, with a sharp, clear look. A GLAZED LOOK IN HIS EYE means he has a dry cornea. As the horse dehydrates, his SWEAT BECOMES THICK AND LATHERED like that of a soft, unfit horse. His TEMPERATURE RISES, HEART RATE INCREASES, and in the dehydrated horse these vital signs don't return to normal quickly when he stops exerting, but stay elevated or keep rising. Other signs of dehydration are SHALLOW PANTING, MUSCLE TREMORS AND WEAKNESS, DEPRESSED ATTITUDE, and WEAK PULSE. The horse will have DRY FECES, and DECREASED URINE VOLUME. He LOSES INTEREST IN HIS SURROUNDINGS and LOSES HIS DESIRE TO EAT OR DRINK. He may WOBBLE when he moves. In extreme cases he is unable to continue on, and may seem about to collapse. Some horses become NERVOUS AND HYPERACTIVE at this point, even though they are close to collapsing--since lack of body fluid starts to affect the brain. If your horse has had a hard ride and starts acting abnormally, it probably means you have overdone him--and he could be in trouble. The challenge facing a rider who uses a horse hard in hot weather is to keep from letting a horse become this dehydrated, by being aware of subtle signs of oncoming dehydration and exhaustion, and slowing down or halting the work before the horse is in serious trouble. Most of the signs of dehydration listed here will also apply to a horse that has been ill with fever or diarrhea or has gone too long without water; these clues can make you aware of a serious condition that needs immediate attention.
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