Re: Digestion of grain/carbos

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

Sorry, ridecampers, I pushed a wrong button and forwarded an old post that you
had already gotten from elsewhere.  Here is what I meant to send, in reply to
Tom:

In a message dated 98-06-24 12:47:39 EDT, you write:

<< That's not to say that there is no innovation in endurance--it's just that
 there are more folks interested in defending the past than looking toward the
 future.  >>

Funny, but that's why I got out of racetrack work (VERY early in my career)
and stuck by endurance--got tired of the racetrack attitude of "if it was good
enough for granddaddy, it's good enough for me."  I find the work on VFA's and
hindgut research to be refreshing and new, and have found endurance riders as
a whole to be some of the most forward-looking poeple I have ever met.  Some
of the big mistakes we made 25 years ago in this sport came from trying to
treat our horses like sprint horses or like people, and the knowledge we have
gained since as to how they are different has helped us tremendously.  I can
remember an article that appeared in an endurance publication several years
ago entitled, "Can 100-Mile Horses Still Win?"  We now have horses still
winning with 8000 and 9000 miles behind them, after 15 years of competition.
When the racing industry starts to improve its care and conditioning to
produce and race more horses like John Henry who can compete, stay healthy,
and not break down, perhaps they will begin to catch up with us.

Heidi