RC: body fat and performance

[DreamWeaver <karen@chaton.gardnerville.nv.us>]

At 10:14 AM 12/17/99 -0800, you wrote:
  Obviously "fat"
>animals will not do well:  too much weight [baggage] and probably
>less training.  I do think that there is a little bit more leeway in
>very long duration exercise for body weight, as compared to the
>"racing lean" weights seen for shorter events.

Hi Beth:  Great info.  Just wanted to insert that many horses that do very 
well in endurance are on the heavy side, rather than thin.  I think that 
Susan's work at Tevis showed that the horses with the higher body condition 
scores were more likely to complete than those in the lower range - like 
4's.  Pretty interesting how much the body condition score matters above 
all else -- age, hoofcare, experience, etc.  (though stands to reason that 
a nicely conditioned horse already has everything going for it)

If you were to look at one of my horses, you could declare him to be 
'fat'.  He gets laughed at and we're teased an awful lot.  He is 14.3 (with 
high withers) and weighs in at over 1000 pounds.  Susan rates his body 
score at 5.5.  You cannot, and have not ever been able to 'feel' his 
ribs.  (I don't think he has any)   I had a friend take a fit and 
conditioned horse to a ride this year. The vet told her the horse was kinda 
fat and maybe she should do the 25.  She completed the 50 in front of me, 
no problem.  Yeah, her horse looked fat.  But so does mine and we nearly 
always complete, sometimes <gasp> we even win and finish in the front .

I don't think you can tell by looking at a horse regardless of their weight 
whether or not they are being over-trained or not (or undertrained).  Very 
few people (even vets) can look at a fat looking horse and tell if it is 
fit or not.  The horses, they are all so different.

My horses have done about 3000 of their over 5000 miles using Carbo 
Charge.  I've taken a lot of blood-glucose readings along the way and have 
learned tons about them that I wouldn't know otherwise.  I learned that 
preloading it really is stupid unless you work for NASA and like 'blasting 
off' (and orbiting planet earth).  I've learned that it doesn't affect 
their recoveries, it isn't a replacement for what they normally eat on 
race-day. I know it helps with post-ride recoveries, keeps their glucose 
more steady if used regularly - takes but 5 seconds to stop, pull their 
nose around and dose them while on the trail.  Most horses won't eat (much) 
grain during competition so this works well, but only as an additional 
supplement.  I don't use it to try and increase their performance and 
really don't think a one day horse needs it (maybe on a 100).  Most 
beneficial on a multiday, and lots of times it's too impractical to carry 
enough along (gotta bring electrolytes too) so they might only get a dose 
at the lunch check and the finish, then that evening.  This won't fix a 
horse that's burning out, and it won't make a weary one fresh again.

People get into trouble because they don't use common sense.  Just as you 
wouldn't load your horse up with grain (carbohydrates) before an endurance 
ride, you wouldn't load them up with the carbo charge. Horses brains fry, 
they get stressed out because they aren't getting to go as fast as they 
like, or worse, they ARE getting to go as fast as they like and next thing 
you know - tied up horse (and I don't mean to a tree or post).

Happy Trails,

Karen
in NV
& Weaver, completed 725 miles in 99
& Rocky, 1385 miles in 99

P.S.  Please don't flame me, I've been burned so much my hide is getting 
thin-- I'm just posting my experiences not asking anybody to tell me what 
they think about them.  :+)



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