Re: RC: Re: RE: Trail Riding Safety

["Linda B. Merims" <lbm@naisp.net>]

At 09:30 PM 8/19/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Oh, yes, along those lines - proper education about horse 
>liquid/food intake is a good one.
>
>Someone I was talking to yesterday was telling me that she
>and her riding buddies used to allow their horses, at the
>end of a ride, 8 gulps of water every fifteen minutes until
>they didn't want any anymore. I suppose that's better than
>nothing.
>
>But for some reason, one of her riding buddies also decided 
>to withhold water altogether (I wasn't clear why? - this was 
>after riding at Point Reyes, which has vertical hills, right 
>Karen?). Funnily enough, the horse colicked and they had to 
>get the vet out.

This is what I was taught when I was growing up (60's).  You
never water a horse after exertion.  If you do it may colick.
At most, you give the horse a few sips, walk it for five minutes,
give it another sip, and so on for at least a half hour, preferably
an hour.  When I worked as a groom at Hollywood Park in the
70's, this was still absolutely derigeur.  You never let them
drink all they want until you have put them away dry, about
an hour after they come back from their morning work.  There's
also all kinds of rituals surrounding when you let them eat
and drink on race day, but my horses never raced while I was
there, so I don't know them.

Strangely, the harness people *never* walk their horses after
exercise.  Just wash them (in the crossties :-), put the cooler
on, and throw them in their stalls.  Doesn't seem to hurt the
horses a bit.

Why?  Because it was always done that way.  That was the correct
way to do it.  And one always wanted to be correct.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@naisp.net
Massachusetts, USA