Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At 01:18 PM 5/24/2004, heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Additionally, horses who EAT well the 48 hours previously and go into the
> ride with a good gut fill have a TREMENDOUS water reserve in the hindgut.
> As they pull the water out of that to make it into "road apples" they are
> kicking SEVERAL more gallons into their circulation--hence they HAVE a
> water source during those early miles.

....how else can you explain horses doing the things that they do ....how 
many rides have there been where the horses did have to go an extremely 
long way to their first water -- due to various reasons (I remember one 
year at 20 MT somebody had shot holes in the water trough, it was 
emtpy).  Other times I've come upon empty troughs, either the RM didn't put 
out enough water (or in some cases, any), and have even had times when 
cattle had come and drained the troughs.  It is definitely a plus to have a 
horse that has the ability to recover well from a deficit; or basically 
doesn't really get one in the first place because they started in good 
enough condition.

IMO, the best way to teach a horse to be a really good drinker is to make 
them really thirsty.  Ride them a long way in extreme conditions without 
water.  If my horses had only ever gone to rides with water every 5 miles 
they probably wouldn't be so good at taking care of themselves.  Now it 
does get kind of annoying with Chief when he insists on drinking out of 
every single water trough there is when we go to a ride with a lot of 
water.  He knows I may be taking him for several hours further until there 
is another one (because I have).  Going a long way between water isn't that 
big of a deal, you just have to ride accordingly for the conditions.

I have never had a problem getting a horse to drink.  I did have trouble 
getting Rocky to eat when he was younger, he finally learned when he did 
his first 2-days of 50's.  He got really hungry on the second day and was 
trying to sample everything, even the cholla.  Which of course, he learned 
right quick wasn't edible (his nickname that day was Pin Cushion 
Rocky).  After that, he finally got with the program and became a good 
eater.  Sometimes they literally have to learn things the hard way.

Karen
in NV

============================================================
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

ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/

============================================================