The feeding regimen before a ride that has always
worked best for me, and Trinity seems to thrive on, is the addition of wet beet
pulp andsome alfalfa cubes to the grain ration three days before the ride,
and during the ride at the holds. He's on coastal bermuda pasttture 24/7. During
the warm months when the grass is growing well he does not want to eat hay. The
wet beet puld mixed with his regualr grain ration, and the additional few
alfalfa cubes seems to keep his digestiive system on track. Adding carrots and
apple wedges to the wet mixture seems to improve his eating in warmer
weather. I add pro-biotics and electrolytes the night before, morning of,
and during the ride. If his final vet scores are good and he is eating well, I
leave off the probiotics after the ride, and give him electrolytes about an hour
after we complete to help replace what he lost if the weather was
warm. He's fourteen years old now, and seems to be doing very well with this
regimen. We did pretty well at Million Pines and he seemed to feel really
good after the ride.
Each horse is different. The best thing is to know
your horse, find what works best for him, and stick with it. It took a little
"tweaking" to get my regimen just right for him, and on my other horses I have
to adjust a little because a couple of them are a little pickier about what they
want to eat. Trinity will eat anything, including dry dog food if he can
"sucker" someone into giving him a taste.
