ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: [endurance] Horse's drinking habits
Re: [endurance] Horse's drinking habits
Karen Steenhof (ksteenho@eagle.idbsu.edu)
06 Nov 1995 07:39:43 -0700
In <951105113136_98406661@emout05.mail.aol.com>, CMikeT@aol.com wrote:
>John,
>
>Don't worry about it. Just keep on riding. With so many horses it takes
>years of endurance riding before they start really drinking from the start
>(while others seem to drink from their first ride, of which I have never been
>lucky enough to own).
>
>Thirst is something that needs to be conditioned much like conditioning the
>muscles/heart/lungs/etc. If the horse never gets dehydrated past his point
>of thirst, he will never seem to drink. You say that once he does drink, he
>drinks a lot. This is typical of a horse that has not yet conditioned his
>thirst response.
And there are some horses who never want to drink early in a ride. My
horse has completed 5,720 miles of competition. It is against his
principles to drink before 3 hours or 25 miles--whichever comes first.
I can think of less than 5 rides in which he bent his rules, and most
of these were on multi-day rides. Actually, he is a pretty good
odometer--if he doesn't want to drink, I know we haven't gone 25 miles
yet.
Karen Steenhof
Boise, Idaho