Not to defend Dane as I'm sure he is capable of defending himself. But I don't think
he is against improving performance. He was only trying to explain how AERC reached this
stage in it's drug rule and how he and AERC interpret the rule. (Don't shoot the
messenger) He also states that six group of items were allowed which are most of the
items you discuss in your post that can improve performance. So we can use your info to
experiment with our horses to gain improved performance at all times.
Now concerning the grey areas. All sports have rules and whether we agree with them or
not doesn't change in my mind that we should comply if we are going to play in the
sport. If you don't like them just long distance ride outside AERC races. Now onto what
we can do.
1) Ramey and others have started this discussion to understand the rules and possibly
work toward changing them if they can be made to benefit our horses. In this regard I
appreciate all the help Tom and others can give.
2) What can we currently do. I have some specific questions I would be very pleased if
you could answer.
Tom: You wrote use a starch powder instead of grain after a hard ride to increase
uptake and reduce soreness. Please give me your ideas on what powder, where is it
obtained and whether it should be fed during the ride also and in what amounts. ( I want
to add here I always listen to what others offer but I am slow to adapt all their
suggestions due to my cautious nature. There needs to be a balance between "if it's not
broke don't fix it" and rapid change looking for improvement.)
You also wrote that recent results showed a 60% drop in blood GAG's after a ride. So
I have some questions to further explore this. Is there only one level of blood GAG's
that are considered normal? Can we increase this level prior to hard work or does the
body just waste any amounts over what is needed like it does with vitamins? How long
does it take oral GAG's to increase blood GAG's significantly. Are blood GAG's pulled
quickly into joints as the synovial fluid breaks down or do I not understand the
process. I'm assuming our attempt here is to lessen DJD in horses and thereby lengthen
their careers and reduce future chronic pain. (Do I have this right?)
What I'm leading to are two main questions. Does it do any good to supplement a horse
with GAG's when there blood GAG's are normal? (I then need to know or assume that my
horse's level is normal except after hard rides)
Does it do a lot of good to feed GAG's immediately after an E ride? This is within
AERC rules assuming it is not a multiday ride.
Now a question for Dane that he may not be able to answer. Is glycosaminoglycans (GAG's)
a nutrient and therefore allowed by your interpretation of the AERC rule. (I refer you
back to page 2 of your original post that AERC rule 13 addresses drugs and therefore
does not regulate nutients) (Now the I'll be sorry later part starts to come in :^}) I
ask this because anything with gly sounds like a carbohydrate to me and amino sounds
like protein so it sounds like a feed. I'm an engineer by training not a biochemist or
nutritionist so I may have made several wrong assumptions here and throughout this whole
post. I want to also state I have a post from the past by another AERC vet which
indicated to me that GAG's within 72 hours before a race are not legal in AERC. (So
nobody thinks I'm trying to keep conflicting answers).
Enough for now.
Thanks
Jim Mitchell
Bakersfield, ca.
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