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Re: [RC] 100 mile horse characteristics--drinking after 20 miles - heidiI didn't say they couldn't make it. It all comes down to risk. A horse that doesn't drink for 20 miles will be at more risk than if he did drink like a sailor on leave (early and often). I perfer not to accept the risk associated with a horse that won't drink for 20 miles. This is especially true in the east where the temps and humidity are such that horses will lose large amounts of water from sweat from the get go. And again, that risk is somewhat ameliorated if the horse has stuffed himself and is practically waterlogged before leaving. I've ridden rides where water was not all that available. Those were, however, in the mountain region where the water loss is going to be on the low side of the 10 l/hr vs. the high side which you will find in the more humid areas. I didn't have a problem with them and neither did my horse. However, I did take time to stop where there was water to make sure he had time to reload on water and to eat some and reload on water. Which brings up another point--the ambient conditions alter this perception considerably. When we start 100s in the pre-dawn here in the NW with ice on the water and the butt rugs on, I seriously doubt that the sweat loss approaches anywhere NEAR 10 l/hr. So if they are ambivalent about drinking, it is often not that they are not poor drinkers, but because they really DON'T need much yet. (Although one does have to distinguish in such cases whether it is lack of need that keeps them from drinking, or the reluctance to chug ice water, and one should provide something other than ice water to make sure that isn't the problem.) An experience endurance vet made a comment to me one time while we were sitting around the fire waiting for some 100's commented that it scares the hell out of him and he makes a mental note to watch the horse whenever someone says to him at the first check - "oh my horse doesn't drink for 20 miles." Sure it does. And I think all of us who have been around the block more than once as ride vets have the same reaction. But if the parameters come springing back at 50 miles, I heave a big sigh of relief. And more times than not, they do. All of the horses I've ridden to any significant mileage have at least been good enough drinkers that they will at least start tanking going into the first vet check, which usually isn't 20 miles into the ride. (And if it IS further than that, yes, they are usually drinking prior to that.) But I don't find it at all unusual or troubling if there is a water tank at 5 miles and they skip it, or only take a few sips--shoot, they are still sloshing in the hindgut at that point from what they took on in the smorgasbord the night before. The two best 100-milers I've ridden would at least sip from just about every offered water, but they also ate so dang well that they didn't exactly tank up in the early miles, either. I sure prefer the ones who drink early--just saying that as a ride vet I've watched too many of them "rebound" later in the day to buy the notion that it can't be done or isn't commonly done. :-) Heidi ============================================================ Just because someone tells you that your horse isn't "fit" for endurance...doesn't mean it isn't, it just means your horse isn't fit to be "their" endurance horse! Go for it, you never know what you'll accomplish with that "saddle horse" or "trail horse" of YOURS! ~ Darlene Anderson - DPD Endurance ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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