ridecamp@endurance.net: Weight gain/loss

Weight gain/loss

RALSTON@AESOP.RUTGERS.EDU
Tue, 22 Apr 1997 12:55:59 -0400 (EDT)

A brief "de-lurk" to provide the
details Teddy requested on the "study" I
did on the Vermont 100 and 3-day horses.
I realize all too well that what the horses
have eaten and drunk before weighing will definitely
affect weight gain/loss assessments-in addition
to fecal losses (average size dump weighs about
10 lbs or more!!-I know too well, having done numerous
24 hr total fecal collections-VBG :-) ). Actually
urine losses also are a factor. At one trial we weighed a
horse who got off the scale and immediately urinated. For
grins and giggles I got him back on the scale-he'd lost
8 lbs!! That is one of the reasons I've not made much noise
about the results. We weighed the horses at the vet in- obviously
no control over their previous feeding-and immediately after they
did their trot out at the completion. I'd hoped to get enough
info on feed management, how far they had trailered and when
relative to the first weight (At Essex trials we noted that
horses that travelled farthest just before the first weight
was taken often had lower weight "losses"
probably due to lower gut fill and water intake immediately
before they were weighed) etc,etc but did not get the numbers
or complete info I'd hoped for- the perils of field research! Ergo -
incomplete data and
a stomped on foot (one of the horses at the vet intook a flying leap
off the scale right onto my foot! :-o

However, the sweat losses we are recording on the treadmill (8 lbs or
more after 15 min of walk and 30 of trot) ARE
real-the fillies are weighed immediately before getting on
the treadmill and immediately after they are backed off it-any feces
deposited are collected and weighed, though it's rare (these youngsters
just haven't quite figured out how to poop and trot at the
same time!),and we never had had one urinate between weighings.

It would be great if we could do really controlled research, using
markers,isotopes etc to partition the losses/gains we observed in the field,
but not practical or even possible under field conditions. So we go
to the field, collect imperfect data that generates a million
questions that we can then spend a life time answering in the
lab then taking those results back out to the field to see if they work! :-)

Sarah Ralston,VMD,PhD,
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Nutrition
Associate Professor
Cook College, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
Ralston@aesop.rutgers. edu
908-932-9404

Wondering where these people get enough time to HAVE
the nutrition wars...I don't even have time to plow through the
posts half the time, much less reply to each and every one! ti I
can understand, he's recuperating and probably bored, but the others?
:-)

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