Re: Karen's Questions #3, 4, 5, 6 & 7

["Marci Cunningham" <mcunningham@calcot.com>]

3:  What is your feeding program?  What do you feed before, during and after
hard rides?

My feeding program is fairly simple.  The horses are rotated between two 1
1/2 acre irrigated pastures.  During the hot weather, and it can get very
hot in Bakersfield, the bermuda grows well however now that it has cooled
off the bermuda is going dormant and my husband has overseeded with rye
grass.  I consider the grass as supplemental to the hay the horses are fed.
I feed alfalfa cubes that I buy in bulk from a local hay cubing company.
Although baled hay is less expensive, storage is an issue as 2 tons of cubes
takes up a lot less room that 2 tons of baled hay.  While alfalfa is not the
ideal diet for endurance horses, again it has worked for my horses.  One
year at the AERC convention, one of the speakers said that a diet of hay and
cob grain wasn't a balanced diet so now I add a vitamin supplement to the
minute amount of grain each horse gets.  Not very scientific, but oh well.
I'd guess that each horse gets maybe a half pound of grain, as I don't weigh
it but eyeball splitting up one scoop measure 3 ways.  I don't change the
diet after a hard training ride but I do take oat hay to endurance rides and
offer it along with alfalfa hay.  I don't take cubes to rides but buy baled
hay as I think it is easier to eat than cubes.  I try to feed baled hay a
couple of days prior to going to a ride just to let them get used to the
baled hay.  Don't know if it is necessary but it makes me feel better.  I
have started taking beet pulp to endurance rides but only one horse has
taken a shine to it, the other would rather have a bran mash.  I do feed
additional grain after an endurance ride.  Keeping weight on my horses is
not an issue, as both horses in training are plenty plump.

4:  What supplements and electrolytes do you use on conditioning rides and
competitions?

I've been using ABC Ride Rite electrolytes for a couple of years.  First
bought them from Roger R. at the convention.  If it is going to be really
hot I may use them on a training ride, especially with Koztarr, as he seems
to need them more than Torch.  I think each horse is different in their
electrolyte needs and somehow we need to figure this out before we go
overdoing the electrolytes.  More isn't always better.  At an endurance ride
depending on the ride, weather etc, I may or may not give them the night
before the ride, the morning, and several times during the day.

5:  What strategies do you use for cooling?  How do you cool after hard
rides?  Do you ice legs?  Do you poltice and wrap legs?

I like to start my cooling down prior to getting to a vet check.  It is
always interesting to see how many people you can pass in a vet check, and
neither of my horses have exceptional recoveries.  I'm trying to sponge more
on the trail but I will never be as good as Angie.  At home I always hose
off the horses as long as the temperature permits it.  I don't ice or
poultice or wrap legs after an endurance ride.  I used to wrap legs after
every ride years ago when I first started endurance riding.  I think that
was because everybody else did.  Then I started reading about why not to
wrap and it made sense to me so I stopped wrapping.  I can't remember that
last time any of my horses had any filling after a 50 or a 100 mile ride.

6:  How do you train with your HRM's?

I have a HRM, but I don't train with it.  It just takes too much work to try
to keep track of where your horse is.  I use it at rides as an expensive
stethescope, which I'll bet most people do also.  I don't think a newbie
endurance rider should get a HRM until they have ridden a year of endurance
rides and know their horse very well.  Stethescopes are a lot cheaper and do
the job at vet checks.

7:  Saddles, tack etc?

I ride in an old OF Traditional (#12) that I bought from Susan Gibson when
she was still down here in California.  It has been rebuilt from the tree
up, with new leather, panels, and rigging, and it still fits all of my
horses.  I feel so fortunate that it fits all of my horses since I know what
a bummer it must be to have saddle fitting problems.  Last year I bought
another used Traditional from Barbara Sanches, to have as a back-up.  I
think there are a lot of good used saddles around and I don't believe in
buying new if I can find it used.  When I started riding the same saddle on
different horses I switched from the booties to woolback pads that I can
rotate the pads between horses.  I don't encourage new riders to go out and
buy new saddles and tack prior to their first ride.  Use what you have in
your tack room.