Weight and water

[cashmachine]

I am reading "Body Language of Horses" and come across passage where they say that horses "always require a lot of water". Horses are large animals and I can imagine that typical horse can easily drink a bucket of water, which would be equal to 20 pounds of weight. Before the race they weight horses, but do they take special care to ensure that horse did not drink before weighting? Because if not, then weight of horse would have very little value as an indicator since it can change so much depending on whether horse drunk or not. In general, are there any special procedures or rules how horse drink before the race?

[Clocker]

As far as I know, Hong Kong is the only place they weigh horses, and even there, there seems to be no consensus as to whether or not that information is of any value.

So the answer would seem to be, no one much knows or cares about water and/or weight.

[Greyfox]

In general, are there any special procedures or rules how horse drink before the race?

If a trainer doesn't want his horse to perform well, he can give it a bucket of water before the race.
Any rules regarding how much a horse can drink before a race would be awfully difficult to enforce.

[Robert Fischer]

weighing in the USA = I think they did this(and listed it for the public) at some point between the 70s-mid80s. (maybe someone can "weigh-in" with actual facts)

As far as drinking water pre-race and water weight etc... - 1.-the horses are on Lasix and being warmed up and nervous- so holding water is generally not a big issue.
2. - a good horseman will know how to obtain a good level of hydration.

If anything it would seem that dehydration would be somewhat of a risk rather than being over-hydrated in most cases. But this is just my own speculation.

after the race - it's generally good when the horse isn't tremendously thirsty as to over-drink (indicating exhaustion from the effort/dehydration) , and it's generally good when they do eat a lot and have a good appetite(refueling their muscles and preventing catabolism).

[cashmachine]

If a trainer doesn't want his horse to perform well, he can give it a bucket of water before the race.
Good point. I read somewhere that some trainers sometimes try to "hide" current shape of their horses in order to get much better odds on the subsequent races where horse has descent chances to win; in the book they suggested that in such a case trainer would simply enter the horse into a race that doesn't suit it. Here we got much better idea - simply give her some water :). Do we have trainers on this site? How do you water your horses before the race?

[Magister Ludi]

As far as I know, Hong Kong is the only place they weigh horses, and even there, there seems to be no consensus as to whether or not that information is of any value.

So the answer would seem to be, no one much knows or cares about water and/or weight.

Total equine energy expenditure is comprised of three factors: energy cost of locomotion, aerodynamic drag, and kinetic energy. Locomotion and kinetic energy expenditures are affected by the horse’s weight. Aerodynamic drag is not. The effect of a horse’s weight on time for different distances is as follows:

D.............delta W/delta T
f...............(lb/s)
5..............-211
6..............-175
7..............-150
8..............-131

In other words, at 5f, a reduction of a horse’s weight by 211 lb increases his time by 1 s.

[thespaah]

I am reading "Body Language of Horses" and come across passage where they say that horses "always require a lot of water". Horses are large animals and I can imagine that typical horse can easily drink a bucket of water, which would be equal to 20 pounds of weight. Before the race they weight horses, but do they take special care to ensure that horse did not drink before weighting? Because if not, then weight of horse would have very little value as an indicator since it can change so much depending on whether horse drunk or not. In general, are there any special procedures or rules how horse drink before the race?
Working equine athletes have a high water requirement. Not only for hydration but for digestion as well.
Wanna see a horse 'tie up' in a matter of minutes, deprive him of water with his meal. Not good.

[thespaah]

weighing in the USA = I think they did this(and listed it for the public) at some point between the 70s-mid80s. (maybe someone can "weigh-in" with actual facts)

As far as drinking water pre-race and water weight etc... - 1.-the horses are on Lasix and being warmed up and nervous- so holding water is generally not a big issue.
2. - a good horseman will know how to obtain a good level of hydration.

If anything it would seem that dehydration would be somewhat of a risk rather than being over-hydrated in most cases. But this is just my own speculation.

after the race - it's generally good when the horse isn't tremendously thirsty as to over-drink (indicating exhaustion from the effort/dehydration) , and it's generally good when they do eat a lot and have a good appetite(refueling their muscles and preventing catabolism).
Lasix or generic furosemide is a is a diuretic. Therefore a horse racing on lasix will require more water up close to a race than horse not on Lasix.
On most occasions, a horse on lasix will empty its bladder either in the barn or in the paddock before its taken to the track. This is ok as far as getting rid of water weight.
Of course that is to the best of my knowledge.
Anyone with better info, please chime in