Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Actually there is no difference in the sweat secreted by an
> unconditioned/young/unfit horse and a fit one.  There was a pretty good
> article on this (Equus, I believe) some time ago.  If I remember
> correctly, the foamy sweat is due to an accumulation of contaminates in
> the sweat glands and on the skin/hair coat. The more he sweats, the more
> he washes away the contaminants and the more "clear" the sweat becomes.
Well, it is a stretch to say "no difference."  I think you are trying to
say that the salt content is the same.  An alfalfa-fed horse will have a
high protein content in the sweat which results in foam.

There IS considerable controversy over this issue.  I recall seeing
studies several years ago suggesting that horses had a considerable
ability to dilute sweat more as they became conditioned.  I realize that
Gayle Eckert disagrees with this.  I question how many non-supplemented
horses Gayle has actually dealt with, that have been brought along in such
a way as to be able to properly do this--I would suspect darn few.

The ranch horses that Dot and I grew up with basically had years of LSD
work, if one wants to call it that--they were quite fit, and brought along
much more slowly than the typical endurance horse.  And yes, one can
actually TASTE a marked difference in the sweat.  And on the hot desert
days, the fit horses don't have the salt buildup on their bodies that the
unfit ones do--despite having sweated profusely during work.

I also strongly suspect that there is considerable genetic variation
here--horses that got in metabolic trouble didn't live to reproduce in the
Bedouin system, nor did they in the old ranching community.  Modern horses
are NOT bred with this sort of thing in mind, by and large, not even most
Arabs.  Very few of us actually look at this sort of thing in our breeding
programs.  I do know that the horses I've ridden that have not needed
lytes have all been old-line Arabs selected with an eye toward metabolic
function.  As I've mentioned in the past, I participated in two studies at
rides with one of my stallions.  In both cases, he was among the better
numbers in terms of hydration parameters.  In one case, it was a hot day
and relatively humid for here (granted, not the "inside of a locker room"
humid, but sure not our usual desert dry heat.  On that day he won the 75
and got BC, so we weren't just lollygagging along, either.

The point about electrolytes is that only a few horses fit that magical
middle of the bell curve.  Most fall off to one side or the other, and
some fall off a LOOONG way to either extreme.  Each rider has to learn
what is right for THAT horse.  I know that with the horses I've raised and
ridden, I damage their eating significantly by giving lytes, and do them
far more harm than good by doing so.  And personally, I prefer to ride
horses on that end of the bell curve--that scarf down so much forage that
they carry a good e-lyte reserve with them, and that are efficient with
their lytes--than to try to patch together the horses at the other end of
the bell curve that can't get enough no matter what you do.

I still would rather select and ride old foundation breeding of just about
ANY breed for doing endurance, simply because the horses bred in those
days DID work for a living, and hence are much more apt to have metabolic
traits suitable to doing our sport, including being able to be somewhat
efficient with lytes.  It goes back to stuffing a square peg into a round
hole.  We sift the lame ones from the selection process because it is 1)
relatively easy to pick them out, and 2) we know we won't get past the vet
checks with them already.  We need to give the same level of thought to
metabolic parameters--and how a horse utilizes e-lytes is one of those
parameters.  Unfortunately, it takes considerable more time and study to
figure out the metabolic side of things.

Heidi


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It is how we "feel" deep inside that matters, cause each of us knows the
truth, regardless of how we try make it complicated.  It just isn't.
~ Frank Solano

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