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[RC] Beet Pulp - Bruce WearyHey Suze--I was wondering when you would jump in on this discussion. Just got back from crewing at the Swanton Pacific ride and had a blast. Dayna and I had some R&R at a local resort and then got a chance to help a few people out who had taken on these very tough 75 and 100 mile trails. No treated horses, all ridden sensibly, and everyone had fun. The breakfast afterward was so huge and delicious, the only problem is in three days I'll be hungry again! On the beet pulp thing, we agree on most things, and some of the discussion doesn't take into account some things I and probably others were thinking but didn't include in our posts. First I had commented earlier that there was 150-200 lbs of hay on board. It would be more correct to say "ingesta" which is the entire gut contents--hay, grain, water, bacteria, and probably my missing screwdriver. Secondly, the prefeeding of beet pulp may be a good way to add to that water reservoir if fed in the days leading up to the ride. I don't know how much of that water the horse will store as opposed to the same water "trapped" with hay. Next, I wasn't discounting beet pulp entirely just because it doesn't have a glycemic effect. It does have structural carbs that can be broken down to VFA'S, which can be used in aerobic work. I don't think they can be transformed easily to be used in a glycolytic pathway, but I'm open to differing opinion on that. Also, my comments are directed at what I presume to be hydrated horses. If they are suffering from significant dehydration or lack of gut fill, you're right, they have more serious problems. My assertion is simply that if you take a well conditioned horse, and along with good drinking/hydration skills and no metabolic deficits, he will have more energy and better appetite if he is also fed some carbs periodically throughout the ride, as opposed to a horse that is fed only hay and beet pulp. That extra energy can be used to drive the heart, gut muscle, perspiration, locomotion, etc.,. I don't think a hydrated, gut-filled horse with depleted glycogen reserves can go very far, if at all. It's obviously a synergistic system, so it's difficult to take it apart piece by piece, because everything works together. I guess it depends where we decide to intervene in the "horse machine" that determines what effect we have on his performance. There are certainly a lot of variables working at once. I spent three years in fourth grade, and I can't figure it all out. Dr Q, who's doing post-graduate work in fifth grade. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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