hot weather rides

["Roberta Harms" <equiphile@hotmail.com>]

  OK, I see we are still on this theme of hot weather and difficult rides 
and treating too many horses.  Let me preface my comments by saying that I 
have 11000 miles in AERC, and I have 8000 competitive miles.  I have ridden 
at many high profile rides in the last number of years--Pan Am, Cosequin'98, 
ROC '97.  At all of these rides a tremendous number of horses had metabolic 
problems.  mine was not one of them and I finished in good order. (I've 
noticed I seem to like 11th place<g>)
  INMHO the biggest problem is not enough time for the horses to eat!!!!.  
They need to keep their gut filled to keep it mobile.  Many of these rides 
have too few stops and those that they have are too short.  I was appalled 
at the Pan Am that there was not one stop over 40minutes! With all the 
walking involved to get to the vet crew area after the vetting I lost a bout 
5 minutes of useful eating for my horse.  These short stops were all after 
traveling 20-25 miles on trail. i really felt sorry for him on the check 
that was 15 minutes which effectively gave him only 5 min to eat!
  Last years Cosequin Ride tried to do the same thing with too little time 
in camp for the horse to eat and relax, but the vets changed all the hold 
times to the better.
  A horse may not be able to use all the new food he is taking in as fuel, 
but it does fill the gut and keep it moblie.  I know some people feel their 
horse loses the excitement to go on if they have too long a stop, but I 
don't want my hosre running on pure adrenalin.
  On Competitive, the ride is slower, but the horse is still away from camp 
and food for a long time, even longer than an endurance horse on the same 
trail, usually. A 30 min CTR stop means 10min standing to wait for your P/R 
then get in line for a trot out and, if lucky, the horse gets 15 min to eat. 
  In the midwest and CTR over 30 miles requires two stops one being at least 
40 min. This includes multiday rides where one day is over 30 miles.  Our 
Comp horses have much fewer problems even over 100 miles in heat and 
humidity.  Some trails are dry and the management puts out H2O at strategic 
places and calls it "natural H2O".
  I have fed a high fat diet to my horse over the last 2 years.  I have not 
seen a problem with recoveries.  I took longer  at the Pan Am to ensure no 
mistakes and the sand sucked alot out of him.  Two weeks ago, on the same 
diet, I was killing people in the stops with my recoveries.  Coming in later 
and recovering ahead of them consistently.
  Anyways, I believe that we need more time to let our horse eat and recover 
at the stops. Studies that I have read say that we need to not let the horse 
get behind on his fuel, H2O, and electrolytes early because they can't be 
caught up later.
  Then again, some people are just going too fast! and not judging the trail 
against their horses ability.
Roberta Harms

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