We Are Flying Solo

October 23, 2014

Thursday Thoroughbred Eye Candy

By eventer79 October 23, 2014 10 comments

For your viewing pleasure, with thanks to exquisite fall morning light.
(I have no idea why they look blurry in post on my browser, but when clicked on, are sharp.)

Eeeee, dapples! Yep, poor Encore, just another scrawny OTTB, hee...

Probably scoping out sharp objects...

I haven't even been working out lately

Excuse me, you're not leaving out the sexiest team member of all??

Solo appears satisfied that camera has found the correct subject

I wouldn’t dare. And half-Thoroughbred still counts!

My most beloved face

Nutrition Reboot, Pt. III: A Much Updated Refueling Of The Tanks

By eventer79 October 22, 2014 2 comments

The flying Tex!

Before I continue with our reboot, I must give a shout out to my beloved Waredaca 3DE (it's so cool, even Colleen Rutledge can't resist competing, even though she's already a clinician - thanks for the support, Colleen!)! Today is opening day AND I AM NOT THERE. *insert very sad & upset eventer79*

In summary, despite my attempts to prove to my doctor that horsewomen are, in fact, superhuman, he cruelly (ok, he is actually amazing, but still) prohibited my plan to roll to Maryland at 0630 this morning & work four excruciatingly long days of awesome. Sadly, my body does not seem to time its failures well & I’ll just say it’s been a long year. My begging cry of “IT’S ONE OF MY 3DE’S, THEY ARE NOT OPTIONAL!” did not sway him.

There may be a silver lining, though: it is always a special year when one of our core Team Waredaca 3DE Staff gets to ride. This year, it’s our vet box champion, Dr. Julie’s, turn!! She & her boy, Texas Riddle (Tex), have been on fire this year, so I am fairly certain that since I will miss it, they will definitely score not only that coveted completion ribbon, but piles of prize swag! May ALL the 2014 riders have a safe & exhilarating journey this week; Solo & I are galloping with you in our hearts.

Carrying on, we are all now experts on equine metabolism, right? Accordingly, I have updated this part of the series quite a bit!

We also know that the horse must be fit if he is going to do his job well. We know that he needs fat & glycogen stores in place in order to power his muscles. He then will need carbohydrates & fats in his diet in order to restock his larders after a workout.

Running on vapours...

So should we stuff him full of fat & sugar the night before a competition so he will have fuel busting out his ears? Only if you want him to die of colic & laminitis at the same time.

But I Carb-Load Before My Ultra-Marathons!

Equine digestive systems cannot handle "loading" of substances the way a human system would. Studies have demonstrated that it takes 24-48 hours for a horse to completely refill his glycogen tanks, so it's best to offer him a meal 60-90 minutes after he's tapped them. Then, if he has really drained the well, a second meal can be offered about three hours later.

What To Look For In Your Rocket Fuel

My base feed (Triple Crown Complete) is a fixed-formula textured grain with 12% fat and 12% protein. I have heard stated many times that, for the performance horse, you want to maximize the protein content of his diet. However, this is another instance where understanding the unique functions of equine physiology will help you build a better plan. Unlike the human body, your horse’s body cannot store protein & very little can be converted to energy. Instead, protein is catabolized (broken down) into amino acids, which are then used to build new proteins, such as muscle fibre. If protein levels exceed what the body can immediately process, it will be converted to urea, increasing urine output & simultaneously increasing rate of dehydration. So while it is an important component of nutrition, for the your horse, it is far less useful as an energy source than fat.

Love The Fat

Fat supplies 2.5 times more energy pound for pound than starches. How much needed on a daily basis will depend on your horse. Given that I am not blessed with easy keepers, I top dress feed during work with Legends Omega Plus, an extruded flaxseed pellet with 25% fat. That is a recent switch for us; I used their rice bran pellets (18% fat) for quite some time due to reduced cost, but a recent price change made it more practical to bump up to the higher fat content & I’m finding I can also use less with the same result.

Bonus tidbit: if you supplement a horse's diet with fat, he uses less energy for heat production in his body. He then has more energy available to do other stuff with. Like a lot more. Like up to 60% more.

Ok, don't love it THAT much

All Things In Moderation

Before you go on a lard spree, though -- if the fat content of the diet gets too high, you can actually inhibit the storage of muscle glycogen (that's that thing we really need for anaerobic activities like galloping & jumping, remember?). Just like everything else involving a horse, as soon as you find something good, you find several ways for him to damage or kill himself with it.

It’s just not as much fun when you are kicking your horse's guts out just to stumble through the finish flags & slide off while he gasps in exhaustion. It's not very satisfying to try to pilot him around a challenging stadium course when he's got no gas in the tank & you wonder if the next set of jump poles might end up in your face. Hopefully, you are now armed with some new information to consider in the context of your own management program. If you can prepare your horse’s body to maximize the use of your fuel, then you'll have plenty left for that victory gallop at the end of the day.

Nutrition Reboot, Pt. II: Oxygen Optional

By eventer79 October 18, 2014 4 comments

Alas, no credible reports have been filed on the location of eventer79-brain. Even her horses are beginning to show suspicion. However, Amy's comment on Tuesday's post provided the perfect segue to the next article in the series. Updated & edited a bit for (hopefully) improvement.

Do. Not. Want.

We were talking about nutrition. And you've been up for days waiting for the secret to growing that unicorn horn (don't lie, own it).

Too bad.

Here's another, equally as important tidbit, though: different athletic disciplines make different demands on a horse's body. I know, thank you Captain Obvious, right?

Breaking It Down: The Two Types Of Equine Metabolism

Aerobic - the muscles use oxygen while generating energy; a slow process
Anaerobic - yes, you guessed it, genius; the muscles generate energy without oxygen; much speedier

Which Is When?

A horse working in a long, steady fashion (think endurance racing or your dressage school) creates energy aerobically. Fat, the horse's go-to fuel, requires oxygen to complete the conversion to horsepower (just like your fireplace must have a flow of oxygen to burn up your firewood & create heat). He has an advantage: this is a much easier & longer-lasting method of energy production.

However, if Dobbin has to work hard & fast (think sprinting or jumping), he cannot get oxygen into his body & burn fat fast enough to meet his increased energy demands. So his muscles turn to glycogen stores (a carbohydrate stored in the liver & muscles that the body can convert to glucose [muscle fuel]), which can be burned anaerobically.

Life Is Full Of Trade-offs

To complicate matters, glycogen is a finite resource & stores are much smaller than his fat supply. Burning it also produces lactic acid, which fatigues muscles. So, you, as pilot, want to save those precious reserves until you really really need it. Save that hard sprint or gallop for your horse trial or other vital moment. And once burned, you MUST to take time to replenish the storehouse before you ask again.

ALL TEH SCIENCE!!

If he gets really desperate, Dobbin can also turn to blood glucose for energy. This is a critical resource for nervous system function, though, & there isn't much of it (about 1% of the body's fuel supply), so we don't really want to push him this far.

Is your brain fried by science-geekness yet? I could go into ATP & muscle cell pH, so be grateful...

Why Should We Care About All This?

Knowledge is ALWAYS power when it comes to horse management. If I understand what my horse's body needs to do his job & how it uses what I give him, I am better able to meet those needs & maximize his performance safely.

In addition, understanding all of that helps to understand this, the point of action: the more fit your horse is, the better he is able to utilize his fat stores first. The unfit horse may have to get up to 40% of his energy from his glycogen reserves during even light exercise. With conditioning, he can drop that percentage dramatically even during moderate exercise, giving you both more time under saddle & reducing the chances of equine metabolic distress.

So What's The Plan?

Do we then stuff our horses full of lard? How do we refill his glycogen tanks? Those answers are up next, along with a brand new addition to the series: why choosy 'moms' choose...uh...their feed very carefully.

Throwback...Tuesday: Rocket Fuel & Other Stories

By eventer79 October 14, 2014 9 comments

A brain belonging to eventer79 has left the building. If found, please return to your nearest Missing Blogger Station immediately.

To fill the static-y void in the meantime, I have brushed the dust off our miniseries on equine nutrition (which you can access in full under the handy Education menu) for new readers. Ummm, new as in "what, you haven't been reading my riveting brain-dribbles for the past four years straight?!"

So I have been reading about nutrition (the horse's, not mine, who cares about that?). Why? Well, because I don't want to do the actual work I am SUPPOSED to do, so why not. And if it has the word "horse" in it, then it is a pre-ordained given that I must read it. Who am I to argue with those that ordain??

Lots of interesting things to share with you. How horses use their feed, what different types of feed items offer, and what magical food will make your horse grow a unicorn horn (calm down, BFF, one of these items may or may not be fictional).

Those of us who grew up obsessed with horses learned many important horse-keeping rules that have been passed down through generations. One of those things that I always heard was that you never worked your horse hard right after he ate. Much like nagging Aunt Margaret told you never to swim right after you ate or else you'd surely get a cramp & drown. I always held equal skepticism for both. Turns out, I was partly justified.

Wait, So I Will Not Kill My Horse By Riding Him After Dinner?

After your horse eats, his body begins to metabolize his food. This means that his blood insulin will spike, which reduces the efficiency with which the body burns fat (fat is generally the go-to energy resource for horses). So, if they need energy when insulin levels are high, their bodies will instead turn to stored glycogen reserves first. While this is hardly deadly, glycogen is something you want to save until you really need it (I'll explore why in the next post).

Psh, can eat AND work...

So, what's a rider to do? Well, you have two choices. It takes about four hours for that insulin spike to return to baseline. So you can (a) wait four hours (Suck! Who wants to do that?!) or (b) ride immediately. That's right, the spike doesn't really get up there for about two hours, so if you hop on within thirty minutes, you can have your ride & then put Dobbin away before he has to switch over from fat metabolism. What you want to try to avoid, for maximum energy accessibility & efficiency, is hitting it right on that two hour mark, when insulin levels are highest & burning fat is the most difficult.

Now, obviously, we're not going to get this right every single ride, but it's something to shoot for as a general trend & a handy bit of info you can toss out if someone gives you crap for riding your horse right after he ate.

Scorecard: Science, 1, Anecdotes, 0!