Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Dr. Q, that's fine as far as it goes.  But it doesn't take into account the fact that there are substances other than glucose that "keep the plates spinning"--among them things such as lactate and volatile fatty acids, the latter of which are being produced in a nice steady state in the hind gut as the horse goes down the trail. 

 

While small and frequent feedings of simple carbs will certainly add some energy to the mix, the horse that is "tuned" to utilize other sources does not have as high a need for them as an oversimplistic sort of approach would imply.

 

Hubby just did a first 50 on a horse that hasn't been on any sort of simple carbs at all--just hay.  Offered him a few bites at the ride, and he didn't realize they were a food substance--just wanted that hay.  He was a bit demoralized at the 2nd vet check and didn't trot out as well as I might like, but he sure didn't seem lacking in energy.  And sure enough, instead of having his "plates fall off" he went back out, got stronger and stronger on the last loop, and trotted fresh as a daisy at his completion.

 

I do think that small grain meals are a good thing when one is riding at that competitive edge, but the idea that a horse must have them to keep from running out of gas by simply being ridden for 50 miles just doesn't wash.  There are other energy sources in play.

 

Heidi

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Carbohydrates During a ride
Date:	Wed, 05 Jul 2006 12:29:13 -0700
From:	Bruce Weary DC <bweary@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:	ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx

  Hi Ed--
  How's things in your neck of the woods? You brought up some 
interesting ideas about sugar metabolism, and I thought I'd comment. It 
works kinda like this: The horse (or person) eats a carb meal, and 
digests it primarily in the stomach. It passes through the small 
intestine where it is absorbed as glucose into the bloodstream. As the 
glucose circulates in the blood through the pancreas, insulin is 
released into the blood to make the body's cells permeable to the 
glucose so that it can get inside the cell where it is burned. I don't 
know of a mechanism that allows glucose into the cell without the use of

insulin. If complex carbs are used, there shouldn't be a "spike," but 
rather a sloping increase in blood sugar over 20-30 minutes. When the 
glucose levels get too low, the pancreas also knows this, and releases 
another hormone, glucagon, which tells the liver to release some of it's

glycogen stores to bring the levels back up.  This is essentiall
y the 
"check and balance" system of the pancreas designed to control glucose 
levels.This is probably the mechanism involved in the highs and lows 
horses (and people) experience during a ride.
  In your mother's case, she would eat carbs that increased her blood 
sugar levels, but if she didn't produce insulin, her blood sugar would 
just keep circulating, "trapped" in the bloodstream, and unable to 
"escape" into the cells. This is the problem with diabetics--they eat, 
but don't get the benefit of the energy of the food they eat, so they 
feel fatigued, and are still hungry even though there's plenty of 
glucose circulating in their blood. Since they're always hungry, obesity

often goes hand in hand with diabetes. The resulting effect of the 
insulin shot has a lot to do with when they eat and their activity 
level.  If it's done properly, they get energy from their food, and can 
maintain activity. If not, you're right, the insulin will cause storage 
and weight gain. I
 can't explain why your mother did okay with eating 
apples, other than maybe the fact that she might have produced some low 
levels of insulin, and the sugar in the apples is digested slowly, so 
the two together helped maintain a decent glucose level.
   In feeding the horse throughout the ride, not just at vet checks, we 
can avoid the typical dropping of the blood glucose levels, and keep the

horse strong and functioning better all day. It reminds me of the guy on

Ed Sullivan who used to spin those plates on those tall skinny sticks. 
He'd have seven or eight of them going at a time, and he'd just tweak 
each stick every now and then to keep them spinning. If he didn't pay 
attention, the plates would eventually slow down and wobble badly, and 
eventually crash to the floor. We just have to "keep the horse's plates 
spinning."  And it's easy. Just feed him frequently throughout the ride,

and make sure some of that feed is carbs.  Dr Q

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

 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!!

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