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What I find absolutely amazing is most of the work on electrolytes has 
been done before - but somehow we don't know it. Gayle Ecker (Guelph 
Equine Research Center) did extensive work on electrolytes in the early 
90's. She told me she had a database of over 6000 horses. Many of what 
the vets - at least in the East are advising is based on the findings in 
Gayle's studies.

The first presentation I heard on electrolytes was given by Gayle at the 
1994 AERC convention. The amazing thing I find is unlike the physical 
sciences - the current work in electrolytes completely ignores the work 
of the past. They are most likely not plowing new ground, but 
reinventing the wheel. Reinvention of the wheel is a piss poor use of 
limited research funds.

From a scientific point of view, there are real issues with some of the 
work I see today on the subject. They are not establishing a a 
hypothesis and designing experiments to test the hypothesis. The are 
collecting data and throwing out numbers. That is not how science 
progresses. There has always been an issue with we physical scientist in 
the way the medical scientist conduct research. I've helped send more 
than one graduate student in the life sciences back for another year in 
grad school based on a dissertation they could not adequately defend.

Quite frankly I was not very impressed with the last few studies on 
electrolytes I've seen posted on ridecamp.

However, Gayle's were top notch. The current researches would do well to 
learn what has gone before.

Truman



Bruce Weary wrote:
> Hi Heidi--
> I never think you're pickin' on me. We simply agree to disagree 
> somtimes. Like mature, educated, adults are suppose to. (sticking my 
> tongue out) :>
> I don't think that I am causing cellular dehydration with a dose of 
> electrolytes. There are grave clinical consequences to that. And I 
> don't think that she drinks much more heavily because she is trying to 
> get rid of the electrolytes I have given her. She is drinking more 
> heavily *while she is working and sweating,* and I think the elytes 
> help, among other things, to stimulate thirst.
> Many vets have taken the position that the rehydration game is 
> basically one of always playing catch-up with the horse being less 
> hydrated at the end of a ride than the beginning, no matter how well 
> he drinks througout the ride. I would prefer she be "less behinder" 
> due to increased fluid intake. If she needed to get rid of the 
> electrolytes, I would think she would urinate more heavily and 
> frequently, which she does not do. She will also, from what I have 
> read, lose more elytes during the ride that I am putting back in with 
> a few ounces of supplememtation. So, if my information and logic are 
> correct, what is wrong with putting back in as much water and 
> electrolytes as I can sensibly, knowing I will never even restore the 
> amounts she had on board before the ride?
> I agree that each horse has different needs, but after campaining more 
> than 20 horses of Arab and non-Arab descent, my anecdotal experience 
> has shown me that the basic dosing plan I laid out works very well, at 
> all different speeds, carrying heavy weight, in mostly desert rides.
> See the following article by Mike Foss DVM.
> I don't have all the answers Heidi. But please don't tell my wife 
> that. I just about have her convinced. :> Bruce
> http://www.endurance.net/Stories/ShowStory.asp?Counter=226
>
>
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“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a 
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also 
into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil


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