P.M. In some cases what also happens is that a
horse starts off the pre-season very overweight,
and it is important to be aware of this.
E.T. We must also remember that in pre-seasons
one must take each horse separately, which
is something I found very hard to learn, and
fortunately had people who explained this very
well. I think feed is essential, because not all horses
can eat alike. There are some that eat more, others
less; that fatten more… they are all different.
Question
Feed. When do you begin to give them grain, or at
what stage do you go selecting the feed?
P.M. I believe you begin when a horse starts
consuming energy (grain, balanced food, etc),
I always begin with balanced feed. With a close
objective in view: 12 to 14% protein, with which I
try that the horse change its digestive system, with
a few grass mixes. But analyzing its time of rest;
weight and build, I go increasing the grain two
months before the objective I had in mind. You go
increasing it as the season looms.
And for horses that play the open, in my case I
continue with oats, which is what I felt gave the
horse potency.
E.T. In my case, I agree with Pite and again highlight
the fact that we must never forget individualization.
There are horses that breathe and get fat; others
that find it much harder. As soon as you start to trot
you start seeing what to give them, whether more
grass or more grain, depending on each horse. We
always emphasize that we must seek what is best
for each horse.
Just as an example, we can say that a player like
Mariano Aguerre keeps his Open-playing ponies
on fodder, with no alfalfa, whereas Juan Martín
Nero feeds them bales 60% alfalfa and the rest
grasses… all are valid, depending on the planning
they did.
Question
Why does the horse rest for six months? No
sportsman rests that long… I would have thought
that it was good to keep up their muscle tone…
E.T. What you say is very reasonable. I remember
the time when the Coronel Suárez team had asked
themselves this: why let the horse get too fat? And
I remember Alfredo and Juan Carlitos catching up
their horses to play the Belgrano Cup with Coronel
Suárez and then let them loose again, so that they
shouldn’t be so long with no exercise.
P.M. We breeders have another problem. We
don’t have enough time to play all the ponies.
Sometimes our horses are playing tournaments
like the Cámara or the Open or some other… but
it isn’t a bad idea, taking into account that I always
think and compare horses with other sportsmen in
these situations, and sometimes I think that in the
case of horses, when they finish playing the Open
or the season, they are taken to the embryo center.
They arrive half way through February or March
with embryos, and to submit them to pre-training
at that moment… I think players prefer to leave a
batch to play the season directly.
“The search for excellence or
the way to reach the best final
produc