Matthew Mackay-Smith weighs in on carbs

[Roberta Jo Lieberman <fineprint@erols.com>]

Dear Tom,
This is your Uncle Matthew speaking. Weıve been friends long and long, and I do not 
seek any seam or cessation in that long friendship. I think youıre a wonderful thinker 
who has contributed a great deal to the betterment of equine athletes everywhere. But I 
must tell you: You are absolutely off the mark on this one.

The endurance horse has no more inimical nutrient than carbohydrate. It is his food of 
last resort. Why? Carbohydrates activate all the inappropriate metabolic pathways and set 
the horse up for so many disastrous consequences which are ruinous to 
performance--colic, tying up, poor pulse recoveries, exhaustion, to name a few.

But the powers of the horse to compensate for our misconceptions and malfeasance are 
enormous, thank God.

Weıve had to stumble along for years, trying to find the right combination of feeds for 
the endurance horse--fine grass hay that is relatively high in soluble fiber and low in 
calcium (we know that coarse grass hay wonıt do the job--you canıt run a horse on 
wheat straw) plus a reasonably practical way to get more energy into the horse. Weıve 
always had to lean on carbohydrates, and itıs always been a terrible crutch, a crutch with 
a crack. Endurance horses run on triglycerides (fats), racehorses run on glycogen.

Fat is the endurance horseıs friend. Soluble fiber is the endurance horseıs friend. The 
high fat and fiber feed (EnduroEvent--Ed.) recently developed by David Kronfeld, 
BVSc, MVSc, PhD, and Kathleen Crandell, PhD, and now offered commercially by 
Pennfields (and soon others, we hope) is the answer to the endurance riderıs prayer.

With warm regards,
Matthew 

P.S. Feel free to call me by ³landline.²