Electrolyting for Endurance Competition

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

 You don't need the fancy formulas 
> at> home, but while at a ride, take advantage of the high-priced talent
> gone> into specific formulas.  

Susan,

One problem I've seen with this idea is that I know at least one
commercial formula recommends double what is considered the normal dose
in the home made stuff.  A couple of riders were dosing the usual amounts
and their horses got way into deficite. When I put one scoop of my
electrolytes into applesauce or yogurt I do well to get it all into the
syringe.  I don't want to have to fix 2 syringes for every dose.

 I'm *far* from being one who likes to figure out percentages, etc. but
what I do remember from one of the convention seminars was talk that the
electrolyte needed to contain glucose to go with the electrolyte and the
commercial provided that whereas the home made ones didn't.  Then, she
showed a chart (If this was your talk you can correct me) that showed the
horse's glucose levels.  There was one big spike and she said, "That's
just where he ate some hay".  Well...my horse eats hay too...and he grabs
bites on the trail (ask anyone who has complained he doesn't have
brakelights when he slams on the brakes for a good clump of grass).  In
my very elementary mind I figured maybe that glucose took up room in the
scoop when you were measuring the electrolytes...and a double dose
doesn't fit in my syringe.  It's bad enough to dose a horse once every
hour and using two syringes to do the job of one isn't very appealing.  

I know everybody gets sick of hearing the Southeast people talk about all
the electrolytes we have to use what with the heat and humidity, but I
can tell you that some of our top riders who are winning are using their
own recipes.  One more thing.  I haven't really tried the dosing 2 days
before the ride thing, but it seems to me that a few people that I know
who do that are often complaining that their horse won't eat at a ride. 

I'm not at all confident that I've got my system perfected, and have
gradually added more electrolytes to the routine, but the only time I've
ever gotten in trouble was with a bad commercial mix, and I saw no
improvement with the good commercial mix.  The only difference I had was
that it wanted to clump up into hard little pebbles in the tub and
sometimes stopped up my syringe causing one of my rare violent temper
tantrums. >blush< 

I don't recommend this to anyone, but for what it's worth, I give
electrlolytes starting about an hour before the ride starts, then every
hour after it starts.  Home made Ridgeway recipe using the good ol film
cannister scoop.  I may try the night before thing and slowly back it up
but if the appetite suffers I'm going to stop.

Angie
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.