Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

RE: [RC] Fw: [CTR] Electrolytes revisited - heidi

At the recent region 6 convention, we were fortunate to spend the
afternoon
  at Kansas State Veterinary Teaching Hospital.  We attended a lecture on
  ulcers in horses. As I recall, ulcers are caused by stress and lack of
  forage, not electrolytes. My horse coliced after a ride because of lack of
  sufficient electrolytes. Horses can recover from ulcers, but many horses
 die  of colic. Performance horses are prone to ulcers because of stress.


Lack of forage and stress are certainly two major risk factors for
ulcers.  But to suggest that they are the ONLY causes is a "major
disservice" to horses, as you put it below.


 I
 think   Heidi does a disservice to downplay the importance of electrolytes
for the
  majority of horses.  She freely admits that she has no formal studies to
  back up her opinion.I am not familiar with any studies or research that
  concluded that electrolytes were dangerous or life threatening to horses.


You are certainly entitled to your opinion--I'll stick with the clinical
evidence I've seen until someone does come up with a study.  Bottom
line--caustic chemicals cause chemical irritation--which can also cause
ulceration.  What we are lacking is a "how-much-does-it-take" sort of a
study.

What really bothers me is that no one but Tom Ivers has bothered to
mention to riders that it takes energy to get electrolytes to go into
the proper places--and that dumping more and more e-lytes into a horse
that is in an energy deficit actually sets up problems instead of
solving them.  To simply administer e-lytes without fully understanding
the horse's individual needs and without taking into account the horse's
energy status is what REALLY is a disservice to horses--and when ride
vets make a litany out of putting new riders on a guilt trip about it,
they are contributing to that.  


  But lack of supplementing with sufficient electrolytes has been shown to
be
  detrimental to horses during rides.  The harm has already been done if we
  wait and see if our horse needs electrolytes. There is plenty of
documented
  evidence and research to show that lack of electrolytes can severely
  compromise distance horses.


Please show me evidence of that.  Many of the horses that have died of
metabolic complications (including colics) have been among the most
electrolyted horses in our sport.


Karen Chaton has pulled together many articles
  on ulcers and also on electrolytes.  They can be found on the home page of
  the American Endurance Ride Conference. Just  my opinion and my experience
folks.


Karen has indeed gathered some great literature.  But last time I
looked, there was nothing there conclusive about e-lytes and ulcers. 
If something new has been added recently, let me know.

Heidi


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=