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Re: Definitions and a time out



As far as I'm concerned, the Master Has Spoken (Tom, I know you don't feel
that way, but I do anyway).  Thanks for the correction on cachexia,
Sarah---Marty uses it a little differently, but glad to have a more precise
definition.

I agree that horses over a certain condition score would have begun to have
more problems (probably heat-related) as the fat content increased.  I
couldn't measure it directly, because I never saw a horse at Tevis over a
5.5 or 6.

Well, back to planning for Swanton.

Susan G
----- Original Message -----
From: Sarah Ralston <ralston@AESOP.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 8:33 AM
Subject: RC: Definitions and a time out


> Ok, Just to sort of clarify and sum up:
> Definitions (From Webster's Medical Dictionary):
>
> Cachexia: A condition of malnutrition and wasting occurring in chronic
> illness in the later stages;
>         physical ill health with loss of weight and emaciation.
> Catabolism: The breaking down phase of metabolism in which complex
> substances are
>         converted to simpler substances.
> Anabolism :Opposed to catabolism in the metabolic process by which the
body
> substance is built up.
> Emaciation: wasting of flesh; the state of growing extremely thin.
>
> Susan, I'm afraid your use of cachexia is inappropriate-emaciation or
> excessively
> thin would be better. Your condition score of less than 4 horses hopefully
> were not clinically ill-just very thin with minimal body fat.
>
> Ti: all exercising horses are catabolic!
>
> When we are talking about feeding these critters, it is important to not
lose
> sight of the fact that calories are calories. If a horse consumes less
> calories
> than it is burning, it will catabolize (see the definition above) it's
body
> fat,
> protein or glycogen stores to meet the energy requirements. In a
> non-exercising,
> healthy horse, body fat is the store of choice, with muscle protein and
> glycogen kicking in only
> if the deficit is extreme, if fat breakdown is somehow inhibited (high
> glucose/insulin),
> or in certain disease states. In the exercising horse working aerobically
> both glucose
> (carbohydrate) and fats are used. The fats come from circulating fatty
> acids from
> the absorption in the gut offats and from body fat breakdown, be it from
> fat stores or triglycerides
> stored in the muscle. Volatile fatty acids, absorbed from the hind gut
> fermentation
> of fiber and any starches that bypassed the small intestine, can also be
> used but are
> funneled through the same metabolic pathways as glucose, not fat.
>
> If the horse consumes more calories than it is burning, it will store
these
> excess calories
> as fat. There is a limit (though the exact limit has not been established)
> to how much
> glycogen and triglycerides can be stored in the muscle-all those carbos ti
> wants
> to feed don't get converted strictly to glycogen, nor does all the fat
> loading fat
>  go to intramuscular triglycerides. The bulk of the excess calories goes
to
> fat!
>
> Susan's excellent field survey of the Tevis horses brought to the fore
that
> rider weight, within reason, did not, in and of itself, influence the
> horse's ability to complete the ride. It was a factor. BUT the most
> significant
> correlation between horses that completed versus those that were pulled
for
> metabolic fatigue
> was the condition score of the horse, regardless of rider weight, horse
> weight,
> phase of the moon. The Henneke conditioning scoring system has been
> validated to
> correlate closely with the amount of body fat a horse has-says nothing
> about catabolism,
> anabolism, glycogen stores, or fitness. What is does tell us is the
> relative amount of stored energy the
> horse has under it's skin-not necessarily what it has in it's gut or
> circulation.
> Susan's study showed conclusively that, under the rigorous Tevis
condition,
> horses
> that do not have adequate body fat stores to draw upon have a higher risk
> of metabolic
> fatigue and failure. If these skinny, low fat horses were carbo charged
> every hour or so,
> giving them the glucose to run on (need not worry about inhibiting fat
> mobilization here-
> they don't have any to spare!) they probably could do ok. But carbo
> charging is not
> yet an exact science, and if done wrong, can result in hypoglycemia (low
> blood glucose)
> or worse. Our horses are working predominately in the aerobic
realm-burning
> both glucose
> and fat. Susan's study emphasized the importance of having those fat
> stores, regardless
> of speed, feeding regimen or training. And I do not mean jiggling pones
> of fat (I believe condition scores of over 7 (considered moderately obese)
> did poorly too, no Susan?), just a nice smooth look-no ribs or hip bones
> jutting out.
>
> On a personnal experience note:
> Fling had her best recoveries and performance ever this year, when she was
> carrying a good 50
> to 75 lbs more weight than last year. I had to press her flank a little to
> feel a rib, her loin was flat,
> her neck blended smoothly into her shoulders and her withers had a nice
> padding around them-not round,
> but smooth.
>
> Ti's latest "proof" from the human literature concluded with this:
> >Based on this review, a baseline diet comprising 20% protein, 30% CHO and
> 30% fat, with the remaining
> >20% of the calories distributed between CHO and fat based on the
intensity
> >and duration of the sport, is recommended for discussion and future
research.
>
> Who is going to feed their horse 20% protein? The "low" fat diet in this
> study was 10-15%,
> which is considered high fat in equine rations! Again, horses don't have
> gallbladders,
> are not adapted over evolutionary time to a carnivorous or even omnivorous
> diet as are humans.
> Ounces of weight count in human and horse races where maximum speed is
> being sought. Ti's
> greyhounds with no excess fat have to rely on their carbocharges and
> hopefully are fast enough to
> get across the finish before they run out of fuel. But a well conditioned
> "fatter" horse,
> even carrying a heavier rider, can do just as well, especially in
> technically difficult
> rides like the Tevis-Susan's data show this to be true. NONE of this is
all
> or none-thin
> horses have top tenned-even with heavy weight riders, well conditioned
> horses with
> light riders have crashed. Read Susan's articles in the AERC news, work
> with your horse,
> pay attention to it's weight and attitude and enjoy your rides, whatever
> your goal maybe-to finish
> or to win!
>
> nuff said.
>
> Sarah and the pleasantly plump Fling
>
>
>
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