Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Nice to see some good research on elyting coming out.  Hopefully it will stimulate more folks to evaluate their horses as individuals in terms of how much they elyte, or if they elyte at all.  My husband and I are currently riding 3 horses that are very different.  His Paso Fino *needs* a good amount of elytes.  He's a good eater and drinker, but without enough, he will start to poop out, not eat well, pulse down more slowly, etc.  Even when elyted well during a 50, he will come home and bite big chunks off the salt block, and hit the loose salt hard, for a day or two after the ride.  My Arab Bear needs a more moderate amount in order to perform well.  He's an ok eater, much better now after a few 100s have taught him that there's no telling how long we'll keep going.  <G>  My chunky little CMK gelding, Sundance, is looking like he'll be a minimalist.  He's a hoover on hooves, and thus far I haven't done much in the way of elytes with him and he's doing ok.  I'll continue that way till he shows me he needs a change in protocol.  I prefer to start out this way, and increase elytes if it looks like they're needed, rather than start right out giving large doses just because another horse needs them.

 

Dawn Carrie, Texas

 

On 1/30/08, Karen. Chaton <KChaton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I posted some new stuff about electrolyte research in endurance horses in my blog.  Here is the link 

 

Here is an excerpt: In conclusion, despite greater water intake with HD, this treatment did not result in faster competition time or provide any detectable competitive advantage in the horse and rider teams that participated in this study. Although BM loss was not attenuated by greater water intake with HD, a reason for this discrepancy was not clearly determined. Next, HD resulted in hypernatremia and hyperchloremia, yet at the same time, produced a subtle improvement in owner-perceived performance; it was also associated with detectable improvements in bicarbonate concentration and blood pH.; However, development of hypernatremia and hyperchloremia with HD, in these endurance horses, remains a concern, and until more definitive data becomes available, it has led us to decrease our current recommendation for electrolyte replacement to no more than one-third of the estimated deficits incurred by the exercise bout. 

 

John - I wanted to also post that in my page on endurance.net that I set up but I forgot to bookmark it and can't figure out how to get back there?  Can you send me the link or put one on the front page of endurance.net (sorry if there is one there and I can't find it, maybe a brightly colored trail marker would help)  Thanks! 

 

Karen