Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Just my humble opinion here, but I really do think people have a tendency to get carried away with the elyte issue.  When I started riding LD's three years ago, it was one of the first things I heard..."You have to electrolyte your horse."

Well, I don't. Reason being, I ride my horse 20/30 miles around my home all the time in 100+ degrees and never use elytes.  I do step up the pace at the LD's, but since I choose to go to rides when it is cooler, Doimas isn't sweating gallons.  Angie is right on the money about no forage. Oh, there's some stuff around and our desert horses will eat just about anything (mine love tumbleweeds and creosote), but generally pickens are slim.

Now that I've mentioned to several people that I'm planning to do some 50's, they are really getting on me about "you MUST elyte your horse".  I'll admit I tried it twice at two different LD's in my first year because of all the hoorah about "you must elyte your horse". And I put it in his feed.  But Doimas did not drink any differently and I didn't like the idea that he had those elytes in his system and wasn't drinking more. So I stopped it.  I know people riding LD's who elyte the night before, the morning of, and at the vet check. And they don't ride any faster than me.  I'm thinking that's getting a bit carried away.  

If I'm going to elyte Doimas, I'll put it in his feed. It's the only way I can get it in the beastie. I swear, I'd have to hogtie and throw him to the ground to squirt elytes in his mouth. He's a real pain in the butt about it.  Besides, it just makes better sense to me to mix it in a buffer of food, rather than squirting the stuff in their mouths. Kind of like the medicine we take that is supposed to be ingested with food.

I have to agree with Heidi in her assessment of how alot of people approach elytes. When I do my first 50, it will probably be without electrolytes. 

Cindy Edwards
Buckeye, AZ