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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
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