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[RC] ELytes - Bruce WearyHi Frank--I hope you are getting a chance to put in the riding miles you missed while you were recuperating. Those Nebraska winters can be long and cold! You make many good points, and I may not have done a good job of qualifying the "overeating" thing. I agree that horses need to eat often, but it seems reasonable that "feasting" may not be good for some horses, especially when their gut motility naturally slows down during exertional exercise. In fact, it's supposed to. The healthy horse will experience a waxing and waning (hopefully) of gut motility during a ride, influenced by his genetics, diet, gut fill, conditioning, hydration, fatigue, pain, etc.,. It's all governed by the balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The vets can probably comment on whether the type of feed has any effect, but Matthew Mackay-Smith, the medical editor of Equus magazine, feels it is a viable theory. Now, to put it in perspective, a ruptured stomach is a rare event, like a broken leg or falling off a cliff. But when it happens, gut overfill may be a factor, expecially as combined with the influences listed above. Maybe it contributes only 10%, or possibly more. So many of the GI catastropes seem to be multi-factorial. I agree that a horse eating and drinking throughout the day is a good thing. Humans are different, granted, but not many people would likely do well running a marathon right after Thanksgiving dinner. I am not suggesting, by any means, that a horse should fast. Heidi mentioned that electrolytes may hold water in the stomach and be a factor in this mechanism as well. It would seem that far and away in most horses, their gut moves things along nicely 99% of the time. When those rare crises occur, it can be a real puzzle to figure out what factors are to blame, I'm sure. 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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