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THE ATHLETE
BY ELIZABETH OWENS
Equine Business Manager, Ridley AgriProducts
The years of training are beginning to show some rewards. Your
horse has progressed past the lower levels within your chosen FEI discipline and he is now
ready to strut his stuff in the big league. Now, as you demand more of your horse
physically and mentally, you have to ensure that he is receiving the right fuel to meet
these demands. Dietary problems that were not apparent during the training phase will now
appear - causing you to question your feeding practices.
Feeding horses as athletes creates a unique set of problems. Remember that horses were
designed, albeit rather badly, as continuous grazing herbivores, ingesting predominantly
grasses for approximately 17 hours per day. The majority of their physical effort involved
walking, as they grazed, with occasional periods of flight in response to predators. By
confining horses in stables and overgrazed yards, we try to convert that same animal to a
'meal feeder', getting only two large feeds a day with access to some roughage, such as a
hay net, in between. To compound this assault on his digestive system, we include high
starch feeds such as grain in those two feeds a day to meet the increased demands of the
athletic work that he is doing. High level performance horses are required to consume a
type of diet for which their digestive systems were never designed. The result is often
colic, gastric ulcers, poor digestion, laminitis, tying up and temperament changes to name
a few.
That said, we all know of horses that seem to be able to perform almost regardless of the
poor riding and/or management that they are subjected to. I frequently see horses, even
within our elite squads, that are fed completely the wrong way, but sheer courage and
heart seems to allow these horses to succeed almost in spite of the dietary abuse to which
they are subjected. These horses are in the minority, and I believe that if a rider is
serious about competing at an elite level, he or she must ensure that their horse is being
given the best possible chance of success by paying as much as attention to the horse's
diet as they do to their training and competing.
Which horses qualify as 'equine athletes'? Horses which are working predominantly at trot
and canter for an hour a day, six days a week. Obviously an elite level dressage horse
will be doing collected work, passage, pirouettes and piaffe within some of his work
periods, while eventers will have gallop days and jump days and show jumpers will also
include jump sessions. A hack or lower level horse worked for 40 minutes at walk and trot
three days a week does NOT qualify as an equine athlete!
Typical problems of the equine athlete
A hard working horse may show some, none or all of the following symptoms of dietary
stress in some point of his competition career.
1) Reduced appetite: Gastric ulcers, diagnosed in a number of
elite level performances horses, is often a cause of reduced appetite. Increased fitness
can also elicit a hormonal response that can suppress appetite, as can the mental stress
of competition. A horse can be encouraged to consume the nutrients he needs by
incorporating some of the following strategies:
*Use pelleted feeds within the concentrate portion of the diet. Pelleted feeds are
nutrient dense, therefore the horse consumes more weight of feed per mouthful. Unlike
extruded feeds, pellets are highly palatable and easy for the horse to chew and swallow,
thereby allowing him to consume more feed in a set period of time.
*For riders that prefer sweet feeds that contain whole and processed grains, a feed that
contains molasses and oil will help to increase palatability and the energy density of the
feed. A small proportion of extruded grains within such a feed is helpful in improving
digestibility of high energy grains such as maize.
*Appetite stimulants can be added strategically to the feed during periods of increased
stress. These products often come in convenient sachet form and are high in B-group
vitamins which can help to stimulate appetite.
*Increase the frequency of feeding. Do not just add more to the two feeds a day that you
are offering. Split the feeds into three or more small feeds. This practice alone will
have the greatest single benefit in correcting dietary stress.
*Increase the quantity and amount of roughage. Ideally, a performance horse should be
receiving 50% of his diet, by weight, as roughage, preferably good quality hay. A
rejection of the concentrate portion of the diet could provide a clue that the horse
requires more roughage.
2) Won't maintain condition?
As the work load and stress of competition increases, the horse gets lighter and lighter
in body condition. Many of the strategies listed above will also apply in this situation,
but the following are also worth considering.
*Feed him more by weight. This may sound insultingly simple, but I have had too many
riders complain to me that their horses are losing weight, even though they are eating
everything on offer. If your horse is licking the bin clean, increase the total weight of
feed offered until he is leaving about a double handful each feed, then you know he is
consuming what he requires.
*Include some oil in his diet. Oil is 2.25 times more energy dense than carbohydrates - so
oils can provide more energy without requiring the horse to increase feed intake. 50 mls
of oil will not make sufficient impact on a horse's energy intake. You need to feed at
least 100 mls per feed (between 250 and 500 mls per day) and/or use feeds that are high in
added oil. The label should state at least 7% crude fat. Oil is also useful in that is
highly digestible and helps reduce the horses heat load while increasing the amount of
energy available for physical activity. There are a number of oils available on the market
that can be added to the horses feed, but StableMaster Enhance oil (which is made by the
company I work for, Ridley Agri-products - there are, of course, other products that do
the job, but I am obviously comfortable recommending our range) is a stabilized, highly
palatable oil that is also cost effective.
*Include a dietary aid such as live yeast culture. Live yeast culture can improve feed
utilization and helps stabilize the environment in a horse's hind gut - where most of the
dietary problems arise. There are supplements on the market that contain a whole range of
live bacteria and enzymes but these can be expensive. Live yeast culture is available in a
number of prepared feeds including StableMaster Cool Command, Energise Plus and the
supplement Groom.
3) Tying-Up.
A horse may tie-up severely or may just suffer from low grade back and muscle pain. There
are too many causes of tying-up to discuss here. It is sufficient to acknowledge that this
is a multi-factorial problem for which no single treatment, prevention or cure can be
prescribed. The diagnosis and management of tying-up is best discussed with your vet, but
from a purely nutritional standpoint, the following options should be considered.
*Feed high levels of Vitamin E in conjunction with selenium. Vitamin E and selenium
together act as antioxidants for muscles and can help reduce and repair muscle damage.
Vitamin E will also help to stimulate the horse's immune response. Many feeds contain high
levels of Vitamin E and additional selenium or they can be purchased as a dedicated
supplement.
*Replace some of the carbohydrate with oil. Reduce the amount of grain - especially oats,
in the diet and increase the amount of oil.
*Do not feed grain on rest days. Reduce grain on light work days.
*Ensure that the horse is getting adequate salt and an electrolyte supplement.
4) Sweats a lot.
Just putting some horses on the float for a competition is enough to bring them out in a
lather of sweat and anticipation. For horses that sweat profusely and tend to 'run hot',
you should consider the following.
*Feed electrolytes - in addition to salt. The electrolytes in the highest concentration in
a horses sweat are sodium and chloride. Combined these electrolytes make salt! Additional
electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium and perhaps calcium can be included via a
quality electrolyte that should not contain more than 15-20% glucose. 30 grams a day of an
electrolyte alone will not meet the electrolytes lost by a heavily sweating horse. You
need 50 grams of salt as well as 60 - 90 grams of an electrolyte.
*Horses cannot store electrolytes, so only feed them when the horse is likely to be
sweating.
*Try to feed highly digestible feeds that do not generate as much heat during the
digestion process. This applies to processed, steam rolled grains, extruded corn, pelleted
feeds and oil. This will reduce the horse's total heat load.
5) Lacks energy.
Many riders would prefer this problem to having a horse that was too hot but is
frustrating to have a horse run out of 'oomph' on day three of a competition. Try the
following:
*Higher energy feeds. Go for more concentrated, high energy feeds, either as a pellet or
muesli style feed with processed grains and a high oil content.
*Use whole oats. There will never be a better whole cereal for horses than oats. They are
high in fibre, high in oil, very palatable and the starch is predominantly digested in the
small intestine. If your horse can take oats - feed them whole and feed them often.
*Feed oil and as much as your horse can take - 500 ml per day would be ideal. Oil helps
improve endurance and is suitable for horses doing long periods of slow work.
6) Horse goes ditzo on high energy feeds.
The other end of the scale! These horses require careful training and nutritional
management. The cure often lies in the rider's training, but some nutritional options
include:
*Use feeds that are fully processed and contain no oats such as Barastoc Cool Blend or
StableMaster Cool Command. Such feeds usually contain added oil and other grains such as
steam flaked barley, cooked corn, rice pollard and so on.
*Replace some of the grain in the diet with oil.
*Try registered calming supplements. Many of these contain Thiamin or Vitamin B1,
Magnesium and Tryptophan and can make a difference to a 'hot' horse.
*Don't overfeed protein. Replace some of the lucerne hay or chaff with grass hay and
cereal chaff and do not feed more than 500 grams of other protein meals such as sunflower
seeds, copra meal, cottonseed meal, soyabean meal or lupins. A mature horse has a
relatively low protein requirement and excess protein is converted to energy. Look for
prepared feeds with less than 14% crude protein.
7) Manure changes
Sloppy manure and/or whole grain in the manure. It is quite correct to be concerned about
changes in the horse's manure. You need to understand what is 'normal' for your horse.
When a horse suddenly begins to pass whole grain or his manure goes very loose, this is an
indication that there has been a deterioration in digestion somewhere in the horse's hind
gut, that needs to be corrected.
*Try live yeast culture which improves feed and fibre utilization. (Discussed above)
*Reduce access to fresh green forage and replace with more fibrous roughage.
*Switch to processed, steam flaked grains rather than whole grains.
*Reduce the amount of concentrate in the horses diet temporarily until the condition
improves.
*Try to reduce the rate at which the horse consumes his feed. Put large stones in his feed
bin, use muesli style feeds in preference to pelleted feeds, feed the roughage after he
has eaten the concentrate portion of the diet and remove competition from other horses if
fed in a group.
8) Urine changes colour.
Any detection of blood in the urine should immediately be brought to the attention of your
vet. A clouding of the urine can be an indication of the following:
*Excessive protein intake. The excess protein is converted to energy and the waste ammonia
is excreted via the kidneys in the urine producing a cloudy appearance and very strong
smell. See suggestions above for reducing the protein content of the diet.
*Increased urine concentration due to reduced water intake. Water intake is related to
many factors including fibre intake. The more long stem fibre the horse consumes, the more
water he will drink. If you feed hay by the 'biscuit' and never bother to weigh it, you
may find that your horse is receiving as much as 50% less fibre by weight to normal and
has reduced his water intake accordingly. Shallow automatic drinkers also limit water
intake. Turn these off and have at least two large buckets of fresh, clean water available
for your horse at all times.
Remember there are several rules of feeding that apply to ALL performance horses:
*Make all feed changes gradually - introducing new feeds over a two week period.
*Feed little and often and never more than 2.5 kgs of concentrate in a single feed.
*Weigh all feed ingredients and make sure that your horse is receiving at least 50% of his
total feed intake, by weight, as roughage.
*NEVER feed mouldy or dusty feed.
*Always have plenty of fresh, clean water available at all times.