Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

In a message dated 8/1/2005 9:24:54 AM Pacific Daylight Time, stephteeter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> Tom - I welcome your scientific knowlege - really - (though you could be
> just a little 'softer'). Not everybody has your intellect (this is a hard
> concept for some scientists to grasp), but we all do care about our horses.
> For people w/o education in science, some of the papers are a little hard to
> decipher - regular folks depend upon the experts to translate science into
> english.
>
> Can you tell me what the current science is on electrolyte dosing during
> competitions? I've heard, and experienced, the gamut on this - from hearing
> that the French do not electrolyte at all, to recomminding an ounce of
> concentrates every hour. I know some top performers who do not electrolyte.
> Personally I am averse to to electrolyte dosing during competition, it's
> caustic and irritating to the horse, and seems such a shock to the system. I
> don't electrolyte when I'm not racing, but do when the pace is fast - though
> not as much as many recommend. I do because there is logic to the need to
> replenish electrolytes that are lost through sweat.
>
> The science says one thing - but many experienced and successful competitors
> say another.
>
> I'd love to hear your comments on this-
>
> Steph


Unfortunately, there is very little science concerning electrolytes and endurance--so the actual science doesn't say much at all. On the other hand, you have plenty of pseudo-science floating around promoting this and that elyte paste, with no science backing the concept. And, when science is presented here, the complaint is that the people are too stupid to read it??? All one has to do to get the full gist of a scientific abstract is to read the title, the first sentence and the last sentence. People incapable of doing that should not be allowed to take the life of a horse in their hands. 

 Electrolytes are salts, the most important of them being plain salt--sodium chloride. Salt (sodium chloride) should be fed daily and increased somewhat leading into a long race that will take place in hot weather--this is more important than what is done on race day. 

On race day, the theory is that you attempt to replace lost salts as the race progresses, but this can be problematic--you really don't know how much is being lost and you can overshoot the mark and end up causing more trouble than you're solving. Osmosis works both ways--too much salt in the gut causes dehydration of the tissues you're trying to support. 

Serious EU endurance competitors are using 6-parameter monitoring devices that include body temp. Even then, though, it is questionable that the act of feeding more electrolytes in a crisis situation solves more problems than it causes. If the horse can't sweat, due to electrolyte insufficiency, then body temp will rise. On the other hand, if the horse can't sweat due to dehydration, then feeding more electrolytes may work to increase dehydration. Once you reach that "bonking point", whatever its cause, the game, for that horse, that day, is over and there's nothing you can do thereafter but stop or risk the animal's life by attempting to "finish and win". 

You mentioned the burning with overdoses of elytes, but there are other, more subtle problems as well--the development of ulcers, mineral imbalances, and, worst of all, misdirection as to the actual causes of the 70 mile "bonk". 

There are many factors that play upon this 70-mile crash that is so common, only one of them having to do with electrolytes. But electrolytes have been pronouced, by some, to be the primary solution--so the lemmings pound the electrolytes into the horses and proceed in blissful ignorance, under the impression that they're doing "the right thing" for their horses. And then they feed beet pulp by the gallon, undoing much of what they're trying to accomplish with those lyte pastes.  

Steph, there are 1001 critical details to attend to in preparing a horse to compete in an endurance race. That is, details that fall into the category of sports science--not the stuff that is talked about on Ridecamp. I'm admittedly cranky about that--that no one is concerned about the core technologies involved and are killing horses left and right through this kind of dedicated, near religious ignorance. To not rail against it at every opportunity is "dereliction of duty"  in my mind. But then, hollering at a tree stump doesn't do much good anyway, so I get tired of it after a while. 

If people cannot understand the core science of athletics, can't dig a little to understand it, then it is immoral of them to even be involved in the sport--because it is not themselves they are killing, but the horses. 

But hell, we've been here before, haven't we? Your desire is for a nice quiet list with pablum for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You let your alpha cows run roughshod with their emotional bullying bleatings, pouncing mercilessly on those who don't follow the illogical and erroneous party line, but you have something to say about direct factual confrontations where it counts. Thus, you are responsible for raising a whole generation of fluff bunnies in US endurance. And it still isn't blatently obvious, after all these years, that you are reaping what you have sown? 

You should, instead, be encouraging, at every opportunity, explorations and discussions of the things that, while they may be more difficult than solving a wedgie problem, have an important impact on the health and performance of these equine athletes. If a battle arises, let it be fought on the basis of science and logic and prevent unsupported misinformation from appearing on these pages. If YOU don't know fact from fiction, then you'd better start studying yourself. And thinking--rather than relying on the blatherings of one or another self-proclaimed "experts".  

Turn ALL your fluff bunnies into thinkers and US endurace will cease being the laughing stock of international competition. And, while you're at it, get rid of ALL the leadership that has led you in the wrong direction for the past decade. Endurance is not a religion; it is a sport. Lift Ridecamp out of the "endurance for dummies" doldrums it has been in. It's your responsibility as a leader in the sport.    


ti