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RideCamp@endurance.net
TI Exposed
I've been thinking about writing this post for awhile but have always
hesitated. Tom Ivers is certainly aware of the image he has with some people
and probably takes some pleasure in cultivating it. I don't mean to
interfere. On the other hand, some people on this list seem genuinely upset
with Tom and a few recent comments have appeared unreasonably hostile. Maybe
our, or more specifically, my son's, personal experience with Tom will help
some people better understand what Mr. Ivers is all about.
Two years ago my then 16 yr. old son, Willie, was looking for a topic for his
high school science project. I directed him to the ridecamp archives about
one of the earlier iterations of the carb/fat/whatever debates. Some
writers had suggested that whatever food or supplement was given to a horse
immediately before or during a ride wouldn't make any difference. The common
belief was that a horse doesn't have time to utilize anything fed to it any
closer to the day of a ride than the evening before. Tom disputed this and
suggested that any interested rider try a glucometer to test blood glucose
levels with his or her own horse and find out. Willie read the many
excellent posts from various authors in the archives and worked out an
outline for his project. He felt he needed more information, though, on
using glucometers on horses before he started out.
Willie asked me if he should try contacting Tom Ivers directly since Tom was
the one made the glucometer suggestion in the first place. I said I thought
he would be to busy to reply but that there was no harm in trying. Willie
composed and sent Tom an extremely lengthy e-mail outlining his proposed
project and asking about glucometer protocols. This was on a Sunday morning.
Tom sent a detailed response in less than an hour. With Tom's help and the
aid of one of the vet interns at the nearby Alamo Pintado Equine Veterinary
Clinic, Willie developed a practical technique for testing blood glucose
levels for his project.
Willie's basic idea was to try different feeds on Remington in the morning,
ride him, and test for blood glucose levels until they were back at the point
where he started before feeding. He used Remington since he was already a
veteran endurance horse. Willie didn't want any spurious results from using
a horse which significantly improved in condition just from the test rides.
Two hours after he began feeding, we would start riding at a state park
nearby, Willie on Rem and me on Skjoldur to help out. We would then ride as
fast as the terrain would permit for the next two and a half hours. Willie
tested blood glucose levels at the beginning of each feeding and every half
hour thereafter for seven hours, the point at which blood glucose generally
went back to baseline. This went on for several weekends in December and
January during our off-season for endurance. We always rode exactly the same
course at the same starting time and at reasonably similar ambient
temperatures.
Generally, Willie found that blood glucose levels rose from baseline for two
hours after feeding commenced. Once exercise started there was a dip and
then another rise to a plateau which lasted until blood glucose levels began
to taper down six hours after feeding started. The highest and most
consistent levels came from a combination of hay and Elite 10, a highly
digestible extruded feed (looks like dog kibble) based on corn and other
grains. Interestingly, this general pattern was true of all feeds, even hay
alone. It was also interesting to see that dosing Remington with 2 ounces of
carbohydrate supplement at the start of a ride did not elevate blood glucose
levels over those from hay and concentrate without the supplement, but only
made them spikier.
Willie put all of this together in a report and e-mailed Tom a graph of his
glucometer readings. A few weeks later, Willie e-mailed Tom to tell him that
his project had won first prize for Willie's age group at his school's
science fair. Tom e-mailed back, "Willie, you have made my year." I believe
Tom's generosity with his time and praise taught my son a lesson he will
remember for a long time. We don't always realize how important it is for a
child to communicate with an adult who is ready to listen and respect the
child's ideas. (By the way, Willie won the grand prize the next year with a
project showing that bacterial pollution in our local streams is the product
of inadequate septic systems and not runoff from the usual alleged culprit,
horse and cattle waste.)
Obviously, Willie's testing of our one horse has limited significance to
other riders. This is especially the case since Icelandics are reputed to
have somewhat different digestive tracts than other horses (shorter small
intestine and longer large intestine). It has helped me reach some
conclusions about safely competing my own horse, however, which is all that
matters to me. I believe that taking care to feed my horse during a ride
does make a difference. I don't use a carbohydrate supplement because my
horse eats like a pig anyway at vet checks. If I did see the need to use a
carb supplement during a ride, I wouldn't worry about the sky falling because
I know it wouldn't dramatically change my horse's blood glucose levels from
what they would be anyway from his usual feed. I also know I don't need to
supplement my horse's diet with corn oil, etc., since he holds his weight
without it. (According to the scales at Alamo Pintado, Remington's weight
increased from 806 lbs. to 830 lbs. after completing 2,835 miles in the last
22 months.)
Since I think the plodders like Remington and me can benefit just as much
from the latest in nutritional information as consistent top tenners, I
really appreciate the contribution to ridecamp from the various participants
in the great debate. But like most debates, I think the sides in this one
are not as far apart as the rhetoric indicates. I'll bet the proponents of a
high fat diet will freely admit that fat supplementation is not so important
to a horse that can tolerate enough grain or other concentrates to hold its
weight. I'll bet that Tom Ivers will freely admit that carbohydrate
supplementation is not so important to a horse which readily eats its grain
or other concentrate during a ride. I'll also bet that both sides will admit
what most seasoned riders have figured out anyway; it really helps your horse
to keep eating grain, other concentrates, hay or whatever else it will eat
during a long ride.
If I can make a constructive comment, I do hope that those on our list with
superior experience or education in horse nutrition will do as much to
explain where they agree as they do to explain where they disagree. Since
the whole point of the discussion seems to be to exchange information, it
helps the lay person like me to find practical significance in it all if the
differences in opinion are not over exaggerated just for argument's sake.
Maybe if we weren't so quick to draw swords, we wouldn't be so quick to take
offense. Getting back to TI, I know he can take care of himself. But, if
there is anyone out there who has both read this far and really has in it for
TI on a personal level, please be forewarned there is pretty smart hacker
type teenager here in the Santa Ynez Valley who you wouldn't want to mess
with in cyberspace.
John Parke
Solvang CA
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