Re: RC: Re: body fat and performance

["Frank Mechelhoff" <fmechelh@c-s-k.de>]

CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com wrote:

> That does make a certain amount of sense, but clinically, it seems that the
> animal with just a bit of body fat DOES keep himself far better hydrated than
> the one that does not.  Could well be that the body condition simply
> correlates with other factors that reflect good health.  And of course, the
> horse who keeps a bit of fat even when fit also tends to be the same horse
> that keeps his gut full--so it may well only be that the fatter horse on
> average has a better colonic reserve, too.

Hi Heidi,

this is becoming more and more blurred here. One step further is saying that Body
score 5+ means overall soundness and <5 means chronic desease, one or another.
I think, the equine individuals and their eating behaviour are a little bit
different, as with humans. Would you say from a human, eating all day and with a
tendency becoming fat and lazy, that this will be a sign of good overall
soundness, and performing well in endurance events, and a thin and nervous
individual will not?

I think there a such and such types of horses, as with humans. It's very clear
that a body score 5-type horse with some more reserves will help come through an
extreme (calory-consuming) type of event like the Tevis Cup 100 mile, in
comparison to a body score 4-type. But if you own of these energetic-lean-one,
who kept this form year after year, there isn't much you can do about. feed them
hay ad.lib., they know when stop eating. The greedy ones never stop.

I have such a mare for 8 years. Gentle, energetic, and highly competitive. She's
not the type for 100-milers. After going a fast 50, she eats two days like a hog.
Then, suddenly, she's back to her normal, small ration. Thats the way she is. She
never argues for food. It's not an important part of her life. She is special.
She don't eat or drink if she don't need it. Endurance vets who only know the
skin pinch test on the neck  sometimes call her dehydrated. But if I had to cross
a desert zone, fighting for my life, I would choose her as my mount, not her
greedy (and higher body condition scored) comrads. For sure.

kind regards,


Frank Mechelhoff
Schmitten, Germany
- & Ligeira "eating? ...we can do afterwards"









=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=