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[Tivers@aol.com]

Ok, let's move on. It seemis to me that there are three legs to the endurance 
horse physiological profile that are critical:

1. Substrate availability (muscle fuel)
2. Body temperature control
3. Fluid/electrolyte status

If any of these three are out of whack, the horse stops. Since we've almost 
wrestled the substrate question to death, let's look at the other two. I'll 
start with this theory:

One of the reasons a hummingbird is able to sustain a very high metabolic 
rate--say, as contrasted to an elephant--is what is called "internal surface 
area". that is, small red cells with more surace area, highly developed 
vasculature with huge surface area per pound of body weight,  more, smaller 
muscle cells, a larger ratio of body fluid to muscle mass, etc. 

One of the ways to increase internal surface area in the athlete is through 
conditioning. Conditioning that challenges the transport systems of the body 
causes proliferation of blood vessels, expanded plasma volume and increased 
efficiency of the entire system. Not only does this increase deliver of 
substrate and oxygen, but it allows for the hauling away of heat, metabolic 
byproducts and debrisd from damaged muscle cells. 

The first question is: just what is the exercise quality and quantity 
necessary to deliver the appropriate changes in the endurance horse?

The second question is, what nutritional support enhances this kind of 
adaptation?

The third question is, during competition, what is the quality of work that 
is most efficient and how is that determined, and what nutritional support is 
useful in attacking the body heat and fluid/electrolyte balance problems--and 
how do we determine the needs of the individual horse?

ti 


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