Ridecamp: Re[2]: [RC] carbohydrate fuel

Alison  - TADA - another 'tack room carbo' junkie.
Most I ever gave was 4 oz over one hour to my rat mare.
All are surely different - its all based on their basal metabolism
and how they process the 'sugars' - Glucose Tolerance Factor. More
science from Susan G here??

Thats  why I believe it so important to test the Blood Gl levels to
develop the horses baseline for 'cause and effect'.  Once I have the
correlation to work to carbs and glucose levels, its easy to adjust.
I would really like to test at rides but if they outlaw that then I
have to go on home testing results. Then 'guess' if we increase work
effort at a ride.
I suspect it would be difficult to really OD - as Allison said- at a
ride while the horse is working. That was one reason why I prefer to
dose just before we go back out. As we ramp up the work effort the
carbs and elytes come into play about 20 minutes out of the hold.
I can tell when he comes up to normals. His whole attitude changes and
he moves along with energy.
One point has to made very clear, the horse MUST be in absolute top
condition. That is you cannot ask for more work then he is capable of
performing. You can only work him to the level you have conditioned
him for.  The mistake one makes is to allow the horse to work beyond
his condition. Just because he has the desire to move out and feels
strong - does NOT mean he CAN or SHOULD. You have to throttle him back to he
proper working pace. You still have to do your homework. Ride within
the envelope and you have lots of horse left over. No matter where we
finish...

Roger R

AF> I don't think you can give too much in the way of loader. (This does not count being totally stupid and feeding pounds of the stuff.) The point of continuous loading is to keep the blood sugar
AF> level up and stable. A grain meal eaten at the vet check is going to give you a sharper spike somewhere along the way.  But, if you are keeping your glucose in the 105 - 110 range with the loader
AF> and you grain spikes you to 120 for awhile, no biggie.  What you don't want to have happen is glucose at 105, spike to 120, then drop to 70 (or lower) because you did not give another dose of
AF> loader at the appropriate time. That said, different horses react differently and it takes some experimentation to find what works best for your horse.  I have been experimenting with loading 2
AF> horses for about 2 years.  One of them HAS to have at least 2 oz every hour and fifteen minutes.  Longer than that and his blood sugar drops FAST.  The other motors happily along with 1.5 oz
AF> doses up to 2 hours apa!
AF>  rt.  His curve comes down fairly slowly, even if you stop loading him.

AF> I have also picked up a tired horse that did not want to eat with an 8 oz dose of loader.  Inside of 20 minutes, he was chowing down everything in sight. (This horse was having an electrolyte
AF> imbalance problem and did NOT go on - but I still wanted him eating.)

AF> Alison A. Farrin



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