Check it Out!    
RideCamp@endurance.net
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]
[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index] [Subject Index]

Re: Horse too fast!!



In a message dated 2/18/99 7:41:20 PM Pacific Standard Time, Tivers@aol.com
writes:

<< Horses under stress are
 not happy eaters, in general.  >>

Golly, then they must not be very stressed by endurance.  Most of the horses I
see (and virtually ALL of the really successful ones) want to eat, eat, eat at
the checks.  If they don't, it is usually because there is something medically
wrong.  Food of choice, if available, is grass, at least for many of them.
All of my own guys eat non-stop from the time they unload in camp until they
leave, only taking time out for the actual travel down the trail.  They think
endurance rides are a food fest!  In addition to vetting several thousand
endurance horses, I have personally campaigned horses on both ends of the food
tolerance spectrum--had one mare who could not tolerate sweet feeds AT ALL
(she would tie up) and who ran on (and stayed in good weight on) nothing but
grass hay and about 2 pounds of rolled barley a day (she was PNER Reserve
Champion to RT Muffin, not a bad horse by which to be beaten, ran 18 rides
that year, Top Tenned 17 of 'em, was in 9 races for the finish in which she
won the race for her placing 8 times--is that enough consistent energy at the
end?  For a 19-year-old "liberated" broodmare?  And pregnant to boot?).  On
the other end of the spectrum, I have one now that could likely thrive on
anything from table sugar to chicken feathers, and literally will eat
everything in sight if I don't drag him away from it.  Susan is right,
Tom--you need to get away from the racetrack and come see for yourself how
these horses work.  Get one of your own, and campaign him for a few years.
BTW, Tom, some of us were playing with carbs back in the early days (whether
it's honey, or Karo syrup, or your paste, simple carbs is simple carbs) and
those of us that stuck around found out that our horses did better on real
foods, which of course contain some carbs, but also stuff like f-f-f-fiber
(that becomes those awful f-f-f-f-free f-f-f-f-fatty acids), f-f-f-f-fat, and
other scary nutrients like that.  Just my clinical impression (well, mine and
that of a lot of other long-time ride vets with inquiring minds), but the carb
horses sometimes remind me of the little kids that have their candy bar before
dinner and spoil their appetites, and don't want to eat their veggies.  Then
they're hungry again before dinner.  No surprise, since simple carbs are
rapidly absorbed, and a rise in blood glucose tends to suppress appetite.
Just occurred to me, Tom, would those stressed horses that aren't happy eaters
be on high carbs???

Heidi  



    Check it Out!    

Home    Events    Groups    Rider Directory    Market    RideCamp    Stuff

Back to TOC