RE: Re: Fat versus Protein

["Snodgrass, Bonnie" <snodgrab@ncr.disa.mil>]

All right, what role does digestible energy play here? This @##$@^* horse
will only eat so much 
volume of feed. Fill her up with forage/fiber and she eats less grain and
grain must have a higher concentrate of digestible energy than forage???
That's the problem I've been having with feeding her soaked beet pulp. For
instance, mix 1 qt grain with 1 qt beet pulp, soak the beet pulp so it
doubles in volume and she will leave as much as a qt of feed in the tub. Or
I can feed her 2 qts of grain and a little fat supplement and she will leave
a tad bit behind but she has consumed more digestible energy with the grain
hasn't she? This goes on daily, not just at rides. And yes she has problems
with eating during a ride. In fact at our most recent ride I finally felt
she was ready to step up the pace and it didn't work out well. She simply
didn't eat or drink (I under electrolyted because the weather was cool) and
she got in trouble. Our next ride I'm focusing on food and water
consumption. It's been very frustrating. She gets so intent with progressing
forward that she will refuse food along the trail. I've been working on
this. She is clever and I've gotten her trained to snatch a mouthful of
grass or we don't go forward. To look at her you'd never guess she was such
a picky eater and she looks so much better at the end of a ride than most
horses because she starts off with a better body weight.

Last year, in the spring, I actually went so far as to have her checked by a
local vet with endurance experience, CBC done, picture of health. But I
noticed her body was slightly down from her normal "plump" appearance. In
other words, she was beginning to "look" fit. I upped the grain (requiring a
reduction of BP) and up went the energy. 

Long story, sorry, but I'm thinking I need to look at overall digestible
energy consumed perhaps.  I believe I will start carrying grain with me
while training and try to train her to take that from me while traveling
down the trail. 

Bonnie Snodgrass

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Garlinghouse [mailto:suendavid@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2001 4:22 PM
To: ridecamp@endurance.net; Snodgrass, Bonnie
Subject: RC: Re: Fat versus Protein


Don't increase the protein content of the ration.  Keep it as it is and try
hand feeding a handful or two of grain every hour or so along the trail.
Try not to feed a high fat ration during the ride itself, stick to the
forages (incl/ beet pulp) and judicious amounts of grain spread throughout
the day.  You should see a difference if the lack of energy is nutritionally
caused.  Additional protein is *not* the answer.

Susan G