Re: Carbs - only part of the picture

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> I have also noticed this to be true by comparison between horses raised to
> be show horses, grained while they were still sucklings, given the high
> energy, high quality feed in their early days....have a tendency to grow
> up to be hard keepers, while those that are allowed to forrage for thier
> food, grow a little more slowly (and maybe not reach  their full height
> potential...who knows), and live off of mother's milk and whatever they
> can scrounge up, grow up to be easy keepers.

This is a really interesting point---just thinking out loud here, but
too much grain causes drops in pH in the cecum, which can cause damgage
to the mucosa lining of the intestines, thus inefficient absorption of
nutrients later on.  I don't know whether damaged mucose can or will
regenerate partially or entirely as time goes on, Heidi, do you know?

In doing nutritional consulting work, I've sure seen alot of show/race
horses that agree with your observations---my own aged TB mare
included.  I wouldn't use that as an argument to withold nutrition from
a youngster, but sure is a good argument for not overfeeding grain.

Susan