Lon Lewis Quotes

[Sarah Ralston <ralston@AESOP.RUTGERS.EDU>]

Quoting a large text is sort of like quoting the Bible-you can find isoltated, 
out of context passages to suit just about any agenda: ie; From Lon's Equine Clinical
Nutrition book,

pg 21:"These volatile fatty acids, or VFAs, are absorbed and provide 30 to 70% of the horse's (ref 21)
and 70 to 80% of the ruminant's (ref 2) digestible energy needs,  with the amount provided being at the upper end of these ranges on high fiber diets, and the lower end of these ranges on high-in-fiber or starch (high-grain) diets."


"Excessive intake of readily digested nonfiber carbohydrates in one feeding may result in diarrhea, colic, laminitis or founder"

PG 240:"...The horse has over 35 times more energy available from the utilization of body fat and protein than from complete utilization of glycogen" 
and
"Aerobic metabolism produces large amounts of energy slowly, primarily from free fatty acids from fats but also from glucose, glycogen and protein..." (emphasis mine) A table (11-1, ref 10) on the same page estimates that endurance competitions are 94% aerobic.

Pg 245: " Low-forage-high-grain diets, which decrease gastrointestinal water and electrolyte storage, were found in one survey to correlate with increased risk of failure in endurance racing (ref 145)".

I know Mr. Ivers will come back with counter quotes and references but I really do not have the time to get into this much further, just wanted to point out his slurs against Heidi's and my literacy are just that. We both have full time jobs that limit our time to seek out chapter and verse of every article we have read to counter Tom's rantings.  Again, I do not think his carbo supplementation in fast racing horses is bad. If done correctly it might confer an edge under the proper conditions. However if not done correctly or used to confer an "edge" in a horse that has not been conditioned or fed properly it could potentially result in serious hypoglycemia. Also, despite his protestations, it is not necessarily essential to "win" (his people came in third-what were the number one and two riders doing?).

Remember the motto of this sport was (and hopefully to the majority of the competitors out there)
"To finish is to win"


Sarah L. Ralston, VMD, PhD, dACVN
Associate Professor
Department of Animal Science
Cook College, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
84 Lipman Drive
New Brunswick, NJ 08901

Ralston@aesop.rutgers.edu
732-932-9404

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