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Feeding the Dressage Horse for Maximal Performance Dr. Pagan has a PhD is equine nutrition and exercise physiology, and formed Kentucky Equine Research in 1988. Kentucky Equine Research (KER) is a private company that performs research on equine nutrition and exercise physiology to help companies develop products for the equine industry, and serves as a consultant for more than 20 individual feed manufacturers throughout the world. KER and Dr. Pagan were also the official equine nutritionists for the last three Olympic Games, and serve as the official equine nutritionists for the United States Equestrian Federation high-performance teams. Feeding the Olympic Horse At the 1996 Olympic games, heat and stress were the greatest concerns. In 2000, transport stress and adaptation to foreign feeds were the biggest problems. At those games, the AMERICAN horses consumed 38,000 pounds of carrots, which came to roughly 3.8 pounds of carrots per horse per day. In 2004, the American horses consumed even more, and because of the heat, this meant daily trips to the local growers. The biggest problem at the 2004 Olympics was dealing with the Greeks, where the most common quotes were, “Tomorrow maybe” or “It’s difficult” or “It’s a problem.” Markopoulos is very far from downtown. It’s in Europe, but just barely—it’s really much closer to Africa, making it very difficult to obtain what was needed. Hay came from Washington State, 45 days away. Shavings were purchased in Germany. For the feed, they tried to accommodate what was normally consumed at home. Carrots had to be obtained from a local supplier on a daily basis. The Horse’s Digestive Tract Horses were born to graze, and to consume small frequent meals. They have a sacculated hindgut that is dedicated to fiber digestion. There stomach is only able to contain 10% the volume of their entire intake—it has limited capacity, transmitting food fairly rapidly to the small intestine. The faster a horse eats, the faster food is moved along to the small intestine, and the less well-digested the food is. Therefore, if grain is overfed, it won’t ve well-digested and will end up in the next segment. The colon contains many tight turns, and makes up 65% of the total digestive capacity. It includes the cecum, which is a comma-shaped organ. The colon contains beneficial bacteria that help[ to breakdown plant fiber. An overload of grain causes fermentation and production of lactic acid which results in the loss of these beneficial bacteria, with subsequent production of endotoxins from an overgrowth of the “bad guys”, which can result in laminitis. The GI tract is compact, complicated and fragile. We cause many problems because we feed in meals instead of natural grazing. When we decide what to feed, we first need to determine what kind of horse we are looking at, and what its needs are…Is the horse a performance horse or broodmare? Are we looking for growth or maintenance? The most important nutrients we need to consider are:
Starch is a string of glucose units, and is found in cereal grains (corn is 70%, barley 66% and oats 50%). It is a versatile energy source, but feeding too much is problematic. Grain needs to be limited to less than 5 pounds per meal unless it is very digestible or it will end up in the hindgut with a risk of founder. Digestibility: oats > barley > corn What can you feed instead of starch? Fat! Fat is energy dense (2.5 x corn, 3.0 x oats), highly digestible and highly palatable. It minimizes digestive upsets, and some horses are more tractable when fed fat. You cannot founder a horse on fat. The amount of fat utilized during exercise depends on the feeding state, exercise intensity, duration of exercise, diet and breed. Arabians do better on a high fat diet, for example, than Thoroughbreds. It is a readily available source—they won’t run out of stores. What does fat supplementation do to glucose utilization during exercise? A study shows that muscles learn to use fat when they are fed fat on a regular basis. Sources of fat: vegetable oils, rice bran (rice bran leads to lower heart rates, lower lactic acid accumulation when compared head to head with vegetable oil). Why the source of fat matters is not thoroughly understood, though it is theorized to have something to do with the type of long chain fatty acid. Omega-3 fatty acids have their double bonds between the 3rd and 4th carbons—linolenic acid. Omega-6 fatty acids double bonds are in a different place, between the 6th and 7th carbons, and are linoleic acids. That small change makes a BIG difference. Long chain fatty acids are precursors of “local hormones” called thromboxanes, prostaglandins and leukotrienes. The Omega-6 fatty acids end products are found in pathways that increase the inflammatory response, increase osteoarthritis, decrease bone formation and increase allergic response. The Omega-3 fatty acids lead to pathways that have virtually the exact opposite effects. Omega-6 fatty acids are not found naturally in forage, but they are found in vegetable oils. High in Omega 6: corn, safflower and sunflower oils Moderate: soy and canola Low 6:3 ratio: linseed Fish oil is intermediate. Beet pulp is a “super fiber” because it is a highly digestible fiber, and more than 70% of the fiber is fermented (as compared to 30 – 40% for a good hay). In contrast to grain, the fermentation it undergoes is not detrimental to the beneficial bacteria of the hindgut. It provides a much energy as oats. Shredded beet pulp is generally used in special sweet feed blends. Protein is NOT a clean source of energy. Protein is broken down into amino acids by a de-amination process in the liver, and the nitrogen is then excreted as ammonia (with water) via the kidneys in the urine. Only the carbon skeleton can be used for energy. This results in:
No more than 10% dietary protein is recommended. Feeding/Behavior Sugar CAN be the culprit, despite what has been said in the past. High glucose in the diet leads to high levels of insulin, which results in high levels of serotonic. In susceptible individuals, this can result in behavioral changes. HOWEVER, adding oil to the grain blunts and limits the glycemic response dramatically, and lowers the acute rise in blood sugar from feeding grain due to its effect on gastric emptying. There are other important nutrients that should not be forgotten: macro- and micro-minerals, fat soluble vitamins and water-soluble vitamins. Best is to have your feed analyzed, and add what you are giving with your grain supplements to see where additional supplementation is needed. Don’t scrimp on forage!!! THE MINIMUM IS 1% OF BODY WEIGHT. Ideal is 1.5% of bodyweight or more, with 3 to 3.5% the maximum (except a 5% maximum for lactating mares). Grain When unfortified, it provides energy but little else. How much to feed depends on the body condition and amount of work. Supplements should be used for specific purposes, and for nutrients missing from forage and grain—to address specific problems. Electrolytes: requirements vary depending on how much the horse sweats. Horses sweat MUCH more salty sweat than humans. Most feeds are too low on electrolytes, so horses should be provided with free choice supplement in the form of a salt block. In oral pastes, look for the amount of sugar. These sugars are not helpful. For hoof supplements, look for Biotin, Zinc, Methionine and Lecithin. Gastric Ulcers The incidence is high, particularly for performance horses, affecting greater than 90% of race horses, and greater than 60% of non-racers at some point in their career. It is rare in pasture horses. Why? The major cause is prolonged exposure of squamous mucosa (non-glandular) to gastric acid. When a horse is eating, it produces lots of saliva which is rich in bicarbonate that neutralizes the gastric acid. Stalled horses are not making the saliva all the time to neutralize the acid, however, and their stomach mucosa gets that much more exposure. Treatments have been limited to Tagamet, Zantac and Gastrogard, but more recently antacids have come into use. Neighlox is one such product developed by KER, and comes in a pelleted form to be added to the feed. There are extensive papers and research articles available online at KER’s website: www.ker.com Return to USDF Convention Table of Contents. |
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