Re: RC: Re: feeding before a ride

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/18/99 9:11:09 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
suendavid@worldnet.att.net writes:

<<  If, on the other hand, your horse is bottoming out,
 isn't eating hay, his guts are sluggish and he's dehydrated, then fats are
 not going to help solve any of those problems, and may make them worse.  Not
 directly, but indirectly by keeping him from either eating or quickly
 metabolizing the feeds that *will* get him back in gear---specifically, hay
 to support hydration and motility and carbohydrates (after guts are working
 again) to support energy.
  >>

Marathoners and tri-athletes have backed away from fat as a during-event 
supplement. They say it makes them lethargic. One thing we know from recent 
studies is that, at any distance, the presence of adequate blood glucose 
precludes the use of fat, inhibiting it at the mitochondria level. As far as 
recovery is concerned, there is a body of science suggesting that an 
immediate intake of carbohydrate after an exertion speeds recovery and 
repair. 

In my mind, feeding fat to spare glycogen is straw dog illogical. If the 
problem is to have adequate or superadequate supplies of muscle glycogen at 
the time of the event, then carbohydrate is the best source. If you're 
feeding adequate amounts of carbohydrate, then fat won't do you much good, 
even during the recovery days. If you're starving the horse of carbohydrates, 
though (the situation with the initial equine fat-loading experiments) then 
any substrate, including protein, becomes important.

ti  


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