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RE: [RC] When to stop feeding fat before a race - Mike SofenBased on her talk at the convention, Susan felt that we should stop feeding fat 3 days before an event. This is because it slows gastric emptying and it decreases fiber digestibility and water uptake, and she wants the actual fats completely out of the digestive tracts by the ride start. She wants just forage and low-glycemic carbos (like plain beet pulp (no molasses) during a ride. The other really important take-away from her Friday talk was the importance of maintaining fat metabolism during a ride. This requires the rider to not deplete the stored glycogen/glucose because glycogen is required to burn stored fat...if glycogen is all gone because the horse was ridden too fast - into his anaerobic zone - then the horse crashes because it has no glycogen (instant energy) nor can it utilize fat (long term energy). She also stated that high glycemic foods (like grain) during the ride cause a spike in blood sugar followed by a deep valley where the horse will lose energy and enthusiasm, plus it suppresses fat utilization, so once again, we start approaching that shutdown area of the horse's metabolism. Shutdown as in "no more gas pedal". Plain beet pulp provides a low glycemic source of carbos and fiber, to refill both the carbo tank (for fat burning) and for gut motility. The final big point from her talk - the burning of fat is 95% efficient vs 50-70% for carbos. Any unused utilization is converted to heat and/or passed from the body. Since heat is one of our biggest issues, this a very important consideration. Mike Sofen -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Jerry & Susan Milam Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 5:11 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] When to stop feeding fat before a race This question is for all who have experience with this high fat diet stuff with horses and of course, Dr. Susan G. I've been feeding beet pulp with black oil sunflower seeds and flax over the winter and have a ride coming in three weeks. Do I cut out the fats now or wait, or don't bother to stop the fats at all? I'm working very hard to improve gut sounds during rides and have monitored gut sounds during training so I have a better idea what is normal for my guy. Gut sounds are my goal area of improvement this year. TIA In His Hands, Susan, Fly Bye & Dandy "All you have to decide is what to do with the time you are given." Gandalf the Grey of Lord of the Rings ============================================================ If you treat an Arab like a Thoroughbred, it will behave like a Quarter horse. ~ Libby Llop ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================ ============================================================ REAL endurance is eating egg salad sandwiches for 3 days straight! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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