I only read the digest and this may have been gone over
enough by now but I can’t read the posts, so…
I know many marathon runners and every one of them is pretty
darn lean. If I didn’t know how fit they were I might think too thin, but
they are very healthy and can go the distance easily. I’ve seen several
endurance horses the same way and I know for a fact that at least some of them
have green pasture and all the good quality hay they want, in addition to a
mash for fats and supplements. I was going to buy one of these horses
before he was even under saddle. He was lean even back then. Some horses truly
are just that way.
I think I recall reading studies showing that humans would
live longer and healthier if we kept our weight on the lowest end of the
current charts of healthy weight for height. Maybe the same is true for our
animals? I think about 95% of dogs and indoor cats that I see are grossly
overweight.
Kathy
Sandy Adams wrote:
> there is a problem that
is not relegated only to proper feeding, and
> that is that what
appears to be a notable number of riders, both new
> and some what
experienced at this point came into the sport because
> it looked like the
GREAT fun and challenge it is; but many of them did
> not have an equine
education of any kind, and tend to learn what they
> LIKE or what hits their
ears first. In addition, as I have heard a few
> times, many riders
"know" that a real athlete should be lean. Of
> course, lean athletes
bite the dust (think Jim Fix), and so this is
> NOT healthy. The bottom
line is that for MAXIMUM output, the input
> must be sufficient.
Indeed, one would HOPE to provide MORE than just
> sufficient. One
wouldn't give the same amount of WATER to an endurance
> athlete as one would to
one's pasture potato would one? Ig you are
> seeing ribs on a horse
before he moves a muscle, GET HIM SO GROCERIES<
> WOMAN! or man.... Now,
I could use that ribby diet myself....
