heart rate and Fatpack

["Jerry & Mary Fields" <fields@mesh.net>]

    In case my experience might help others, I will share it. My horse and I started with limited distance in the spring of 95. We went to 50's in 96 and 100's in 97, when we started seeing our names in EN regional standings. My goal was always to finish Tevis in 98, which we did (the biggest thrill of this grandmother's life so far!). Through all this, including Tevis, his pulse always came down within three minutes to criteria. At most vet checks his CRI is 11/12 or 13/14, at the highest, 15/15.

    After Tevis I started him on Fatpack, a milk product with 99% animal fat, to try to put some weight on him. (He did not like corn oil or rice bran.) Gradually I got him up to about 1/2 cup twice a day. When we rode at Poetry in September, his pulse hung at 17 for 20 minutes after the third loop and was still 16 one hour after the finish. I thought about this and realized that Fatpack was the only thing I had changed. I also remembered that the person who had told me about Fatpack had had two horses with pulse hanging problems. I immediately took him off. We have done two 50's and one 100 since then with no pulse problems. I can't prove that Fatpack was the culprit, but I would suggest you look at diet.