Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Fat/Dietary Questions Part1

> <Fats won't help
> provide useful energy during the ride itself.  >
>
> Susan,
> Here you are talking about if fat were fed during or immediately prior to
a
> ride, right?  Is it not true that over the long term, a horse's body will
> learn to utilize fat as energy during exercise?  I think I read this on
the
> KER site in one of their articles...


Yes, the body tends to get better at digesting and utilizing whatever it's
being fed on a regular basis.  I do think fats have a valuable role in the
regular diet of endurance horses from the standpoint of providing extra
calories without additional starch, as well as essential fatty acids,
antioxidants and so on.  But no, I don't think they should be fed right
before or during a ride, for the reasons previously mentioned.  During the
ride, the most useful things the horse needs on an immediate basis are
water, forage, electrolytes and carbohydrates.  Dietary fats don't provide
any benefits during the ride itself and IMO, just foul up the utilization of
more important nutrients.  This isn't to say that fat isn't utilized
extensively during aerobic exercise---it's just that those fats are already
on board in the form of adipose tissues and triglycerides---not from the
feed bucket that day.

Susan G

I'd have to go back and look them over.
> I have always felt Malik does better and finishes better when he's been on
a
> consistent diet of fat.  Depending on how hard we are working and
competing,
> I have fed him up to 3-4 cups of oil a day (never less than 1 cup a day
for
> maintenance), usually with lots of dry beet pulp and a little grain cuz it
> helps soak up the oil but then I eliminate oil about 3-4 days before the
> ride and start feeding him lots of hay and soaked beet pulp.
> Maggie
>
>



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