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1. "Bowel Ballast": I can understand why (in energy terms) you would
rather have fats available to the horse rather than high fiber, lower ME
roughages. However, I'm having trouble accepting the idea that "Twenty
pounds of forage in [a horse's] gut is no different than a 20-pound
weight around his waist" (Equus). A healthy, well-hydrated horse should
also be carrying "extra weight around his waist" in the form of water.
I have recently found support for this assumption in a recent paper,
"Influence of Feed Intake and Composition, Feed and Water Restriction,
and Exercise on Gastrointestinal Fill in Horses" by Helmut Meyer, Ph.D.
in the Nov./Dec. 1996 issue of "Equine Practice". In a nutshell, Meyer
found that the horses who fasted for about 100 hours (but still had free
access to water) maintained close to the same weight of gastrointestinal
fill compared to horses who were fed and watered normally. This fill
was mostly water; the feed material weight (dry matter) was
significantly reduced.
So, hypothetically, you could restrict the diet of your endurance horse
many hours prior to race day, and lose the water's weight through
exercise, without replenishment. Result: You may reduce the "weight"
your horse is carrying, but now the intestinal flora are stressed (or
dying), your horse's cellular fluid balance is even more disturbed, the
horse dehydrates, will probably have diarrhea after the race, and will
not have the "will" to race (tried running a marathon on an empty
stomach? I have... won't do that again!).
Personally, I would never try the extreme... Stuffing your horse with a
Thanksgiving dinner is also going to cause a bunch of problems.
However, I think that I would rather have 'Lee carry the "excess" weight
from a healthy, thought-out ration and water, versus restricting her
needs and just adding more stress to the situation.
2. Grain before hay???: Personal experience with this one, but hay will
always be fed before grain with my critters. When the horses are on
schedules which require 2X or 3X a day feedings for hay, the grain gets
fed about midway or last. I would be more worried about the unchewed
grain entering a stomach (providing fewer nutrients) from a hungry horse
when fed grain first. I'm sure we've all seen the "vacuums on four
legs" wolf down dinner... when they start to fill up, they finally spend
a little more time chewing feed. Maybe it's a choice between the best of
two evils: More whole grains swallowed (grain fed first) versus "excess
saliva production" which could accelerate the digestive process (Pagan).
As much as we wish for 'em, some of us just don't have year-round
pastures ;-)
I have read most of Pagan's (and co-operators, etc) latest research, and
respect his findings. This is not a personal or professional attack on
Dr. Pagan; however, I believe that there are some contradictory findings
out there, which should also be examined. I'd appreciate feedback... I
love learning about this stuff, but please, let's not start a fight of
"who's right, who's not". That was not the intent of my post. Thanks
in advance!
Kim
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