I’m not a huge performance supplement user for my racehorses. I tend to supplement more for overall health … Grinding flax, vegetable oil, rice bran,ect. Pharmaceuticals as needed. I was looking into possibilities with creatine and or beta alanine supplementing but am very up in the air because of absorption issues with horses. But I was reading the various articles about supplementing with maltodextrin,chromium supplementation 3-4 days before racing if done in a safe manner it doesn’t seem like there should be any adverse affects in a healthy horse. Does any one have any experience or advise, thoughts on the idea of “carb loading” ??..
Depends on how much loading you do. Enough and you might trigger laminitis. Esp. with TBs
Used to be done all the time eons ago but was always grain. The amount was never more than 2-3 pounds, always sweet feed and vitamins and never less than two hours out or more than 3. How effective it was depended on the horse, some went better, some worse and you learned which did worse and just didnt feed them grain before a race, but made damned sure they had hay in the afternoon. I never experimented with anything that required several days lead time for pre-race but stuck to grain. I would also have a post race vitamin-mineral jug administered after every 3-5 starts, depending on the horse.
ive been around a few ol school trainers that swore by it, but than again, it was always for router. Personally, think its a rather useless method. just train the damn thing and get it fit.
I usually pre race with vitamena as well.It looks like there are a few equine products online that you would use for racing or endurance horses. Same thing given 3-4 days out a powder that goes into the feed. It seems like its mostly Maltodextrin supplementation. I get you would want to give to horses prone to tying up ect. Its just interesting I’ve heard of it other then with feed. But I feed beet pulp based feed.
Sorry… That you wouldn’t want to give to horses prone to tying up.
It makes ‘em flippin’ psychos, and 90% of the time they have already run their race before they even get in the gate.
Horse run better when they can think, not when they are strung out.
Best of luck.
Yea,… not sure I agree with that. I don’t see where there would be a stimulant effect to the point of which your referring. We don’t turn into “psycho’s” if we eat alot of spaghetti for a few days in a row. I imagine runners would not drink carb shakes before they work out or race if they thought if they thought it would make them anxious to the point of blowing all there energy before they run or workout… Now granted I see that it could be a problem for a horse that was prone to tying up. You are trying to limit starch and carbs and this would hinder that… & Also I imagine if it was extremely overdone or given in super large doses it could trigger possibly trigger lamanitis. But so can alot of things if misused. Obviously this is not something to apply to your trail or show horse but I don’t see it being “too much” for a fit athlete.
I have never heard of this concept with race horses untill a couple days ago. And I am very FAR from sold that it would have enough of a positive competitive effect to make it worth while. Again just thought it was a interesting concept.
This is one of the products I was looking at designed for “horses”… but very similiar to the ingredients that people use for the same thing.
Just sayin, they are expensive buckets. If you were running at a major trac
tracks 10+ years ago, both creatine and maltodextrin products were common in feed rooms. At the end of the meet when trainers were shipping out, you could find dozens of 5 gal buckets being given/thrown away for free.
All the supplements you have listed are really good for a horse, but there is one big caveat.
You absolutely just calculate and continually balance vitamin & mineral ratios. Vitamins ADE&K are fat soluble & accumulate in the body. Many do not realize the total volume of Vit A, which is also used as a preservative on most feed and some hay. Toxicity occurs over a long period of time ( occurs with B1 thiamine) as well even though the horse may appear healthy it has an effect on performance.
Sounds like you got it all figure out already 
Best of luck!
[QUOTE=moore4sure;6509059]
Yea,… not sure I agree with that. I don’t see where there would be a stimulant effect to the point of which your referring. We don’t turn into “psycho’s” if we eat alot of spaghetti for a few days in a row. I imagine runners would not drink carb shakes before they work out or race if they thought if they thought it would make them anxious to the point of blowing all there energy before they run or workout… Now granted I see that it could be a problem for a horse that was prone to tying up. You are trying to limit starch and carbs and this would hinder that… & Also I imagine if it was extremely overdone or given in super large doses it could trigger possibly trigger lamanitis. But so can alot of things if misused. Obviously this is not something to apply to your trail or show horse but I don’t see it being “too much” for a fit athlete.
I have never heard of this concept with race horses untill a couple days ago. And I am very FAR from sold that it would have enough of a positive competitive effect to make it worth while. Again just thought it was a interesting concept.
This is one of the products I was looking at designed for “horses”… but very similiar to the ingredients that people use for the same thing.
