You might get away with that in a 50 -
but what is taken out early can't be put back in later in the ride.
Actually, that is what a good endurance horse does. They usually lose
most of what they are going to lose in the first part of the ride, then
they put it back and often recover by the time the ride is over. I've
seen numerous smart riders do this. My horses have all done it (but
they are smarter than I am) :^)
To some extent this may be true, but it is a matter of degree. All you
have to do is do in numbers to see the degree they will start out too
far behind if they don't drink early. According to:
an exercising horse loses water from sweat at a rate uwpards to 10 to
15 l/hr.
At a sweat rate of 10 to 15 liters per hour and a gram/ml, 10 to
15 liters of water goes at 10 to 15 kilograms (or 22 to 33 pounds) per
hour weight loss. If we take 20 miles ( the threshold I set in my
original post ) - depending on the conditions, that could add up to 30
to 45 liters (30 to 45 kilograms) of sweat or a 7.5% to 11.25% weight
loss from dehydration in a 400 kg horse. From my recollection of most
of the studies that have been done most horses - even those that finish
well are a little dehydrated. That indicates that they can't make it
all up on a 100 mile ride. And I would sure rather not have my horse to
have to make up a deficit that was on the verge of clinical dehydration.
Drinking early is a "skill" - one that is a beneift to the horse in the
sport. I believe it is a skill that can be developed in most cases.
After it is trained it might even become "reflex." I know when I woke
up to the fact that I was not drinking enough during my tennis days and
started drinking from the first court change on - independent of if I
though I needed to or not - after a while my thirst response was
kicking in very early and my body was telling me I needed to drink at
the first court change. Could this type of adaptation happen in horses?
Maybe Sue G. or Gayle have some insight on this.
Truman
-- We imitate our masters only because we are not yet masters
ourselves,
and only
We
imitate our masters
only because we are not yet masters ourselves, and only
because
in doing so we
learn the truth about what cannot be imitated.
