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RE: [SPAM] [RC] Pounds of hay - heidi10 kg (22 pounds) of hay on the average, assuming 0.75% chloride, could provide about 112.5 grams of chloride; 15 kg (33 pounds) about 127.5 grams. Sounds like a lot, but we know absolutely nothing about the digestibility of chloride from forages, whether it simply leaches out in the small bowel and equilibrates in the first 4 hours after eating or whether it is more "time released" with fermentation in the small bowel. If we assume it's all available within 4 hours of the horse having eaten, how much is available when the horse starts the ride depends on how much he ate before starting. If we call it 4 kg, that's 30 grams of chloride for a total of 37 grams. The problem comes in with sweat composition. Sweat losses for a 500 kg horse over one hour will range from 27.5 grams to a high of 110 grams with very heavy sweating. That's *per hour. * ** To put it another way, it would take 8 pounds of a 0.75% chloride hay to support just 1 hour of the lowest rate of chloride loss in sweat. 0.75%chloride in a hay is actually a bit on the high side. So, considering that my horses on average packed away 20 or so lbs (often more) of hay between dark and starting time, and will continue to pretty much eat anything put in front of them at vet checks, they are still well within the ballpark in all but the most extreme circumstances, given that the faster they go, they may sweat more profusely but for less time between vet checks when they will eat again, and that the slower they go, the longer between vet checks (but if going slow, I am also more apt to allow grazing on the trail) but the less copiously they will sweat unless the ambient conditions are extreme. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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