Re: RC: are electrolytes a must?

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Sat, 22 Sep 2001  8:54:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Jennifer Kurtzhall <jkurtzhall@yahoo.com> writes:

> 
>  I know we've all had elyte supplementing pounded into our heads, (I give them just about every time my horse drinks at a ride.) But there are people who are doing very well at rides WITHOUT supplementing elytes. I crewed for a very experienced rider at Swanton 100 this year and her instructions were to put elytes in a bucket of water and offer it to the horse, if the horse didn't want it she didn't get elytes. I don't remember the horse drinking any of the mixture so she only got whatever elytes were naturally in her hay and grain ( this horse did EAT, like a pig.)
This is another one of those cases where you have to know your horse.  I have ridden some (all closely related) that ate like pigs, drank at every opportunity, and in my judgment, were more put off by electrolyting (in that it caused them to eat less and drink less) than they might be helped.  One of those horses participated in two different studies at rides where horses were weighed before, during, and after, and had blood drawn--and he was one of the horses with the least weight loss, the best post-ride weight rebound, and the least discrepancy in e-lytes in the bloodwork.  (He was also first and BC on the 75-miler on one of the two rides where he was tested, and it was a fairly warm day with moderate humidity.)  That said--I do think most horses are in need of some level of electrolyte supplementation.  But don't just jump in with what someone else does--get to know your own horse's eating and drinking habits in competition (you should be starting out as a completer, not a competitor, anyway) and see if 
there are areas where he could improve.  Unless you are dealing with extreme heat and humidity, you can likely start out simply by having free choice salt mix in a bucket and see if he wants it or not.  (I do that with the horses I don't lyte, and it is interesting to see how there are times when they won't touch it when I'd logically think they would, and other times when I don't think they'd really need it that they'll use it.)  I worry a lot more about the horses that DON'T eat like Hoover vacuum cleaners and DON'T grab the bit and take a dive at every puddle they pass.  The ones who take care of themselves that way are a lot less likely to be deficient.

Heidi