Re: RC: Starved horses

[owens <owensall@sierranet.net>]

Dear Tom;
I have been following the carbo-loading thread since I first signed on
ridecamp.  Your latest letter, stating that Sarah Ralston "fears (that
carbo-loading)...will cause a horse to die of
spontaneous combustion" is amusing.  The truth is that we don't ride our
horses like racehorses, and do not want them ACTING like racehorses. It
would be a GOOD thing for a racehorse to come out of the starting gate
very hot and run like the wind for a mile or however far he is asked to
go, like a bat out of hell.  It would be BAD for an endurance horse to
be like this at endurance rides.  I, like many others, do not appreciate
my horse running out of control at the start of a ride;  instead, the
horse that has learned to pace himself so that he has energy left at the
end of the ride is a blessing.  I do not know whether or not
carbo-loading is good for later in the ride;  I do know that many, many,
newcomers to this sport read ridecamp and do not need to be concerned
with carbo-loading their horses at the outset of their endurance career,
lest it be cut short due to an injury from going too fast.  They'd best
be more concerned with pacing their horse.
Katee Owens
-- 
I'm not tense;  just very, very, alert.


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