Re: feeding before a ride

["Susan Evans Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Julie, this is way late and you're probably been and back, but for future
reference about feeding the night before...

First, make sure your horse has PLENTY of hay to pick at.  Tons.  Waste it.
You really want to make sure he has as full a load of hay as possible, to
provide gut fill, and a reservoir of electrolytes and water that he can draw
on during the ride.  This stuff-em-full-of-hay should start several days
before the ride, throughout the night and every opportunity throughout the
day.

It's okay to feed some grain the night before, following a few guidelines.
First, don't feed him anything he doesn't normally get on a regular basis at
home.  Also, don't drastically change the amounts---if he never eats more
than a pound of grain a day at home, don't suddenly plunk ten pounds in
front of him the night before a ride.  THAT could certainly cause founder,
but just feeding him grain before a ride will not.

The whole idea of feeding some soluble carbohydrates is to "fill his gas
tank" with glycogen before the ride.  However, feeding grain will cause some
transient changes in plasma glucose that you don't want happening right at
the start, so you're better off feeding any grain the night before, say,
before you go to bed.  Don't feed him grain in the morning---he won't need
more, you don't want a looney on your hands and his gas tank is already
full.

If you normally feed any fat source at home, don't feed it right before or
during the ride---fat metabolizes more slowly than other feeds and won't
provide extra energy during the ride.  Also, fats slow gastric emptying
(meaning food leaves the stomach more slowly) and you don't want that,
either.  So just omit fats (including rice bran) until you're home again.

Hope this helps for the next time and hope you had a nice ride.

Susan Garlinghouse
-----Original Message-----
From: Julie O'Neill <riding101@hotmail.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Thursday, May 06, 1999 4:50 PM
Subject: RC: Dogwood challenge


>Hey ridecampers,
>Just a quick few questions. My first ride this season, only my second ride
>ever. So here's the questions. Should I feed my horse during the night
>before the ride, say one or two? I feed her sweet feed is this good or bad?
>Someone told me that it could cause her to founder. So any help would be
>great. I know this is a little late to ask as I'm leaving in the morning.
>Thanks
>Julie
>
>Julie A. O'Neill
>214 E. State St.
>Mascoutah, Ill. 62258
>riding101@hotmail.com
>I love riding my horse!
>
>
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=