What to Consider When Optimising Feed for Performance Horses

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Performance horses are like elite athletes of the animal world. They have special nutritional needs to maintain their peak condition. Only the right feed helps fuel their demanding activities and support their muscle development and overall health. If you pay attention to a few important points, it becomes a lot easier to choose the best feed for these high-performance equines. However, before you begin, educate yourself a bit about the nutritional needs of performance horses.

The Nutritional Requirements of Performance Horses

In order to select the right feed for performance horses, you need to understand what constitutes a balanced diet. Your horse needs a balance of macronutrients and micronutrients to get adequate energy, maintain muscle mass, and feel healthy.

Macronutrients, such as carbs, protein, and fats, are vital. Carbs are the primary source of energy for horses and are found in forages and grains. Proteins are vital for muscle maintenance, whereas fats serve as a concentrated energy source for horses trained to handle heavy workloads.

Micronutrients consist of vitamins and minerals, and are essential for immune support, metabolic functions, and preventing nutritional deficiency. Horses that sweat a lot require the right dose of electrolytes. Once you understand the basics of diet for your horse, you can then consider other factors to determine the best feed. For instance:

  • Workload and discipline: The right feed is the one that is tailored to your horse’s specific workload and discipline. For instance, endurance horses perform long-distance activities and require a diet high in fats and carbs. However, horses involved in sprinting, like racehorses, require diets heavy in carbs because they support quick energy release.

  • Body condition scores: The (BCS) tells a lot about a horse’s overall health. The BCS ranges from 1 to 9, with 5 considered the best. Depending on the score, you can make a change in the diet to achieve a better score.

  • Special dietary needs: Performance horses can develop certain conditions, such as Cushing’s disease, which means their dietary needs would change considerably. Similarly, those with equine metabolic syndrome require more tailored dietary plans; they may need high-fibre, low-sugar diets to keep blood glucose levels in check. Similarly, if your horse has a poor topline, they usually require more protein in their diet. Evaluate their withers, neck, shoulders, ribs, and hindquarters to make better feeding decisions.

Any horse trainer would tell you to pay attention to following best practices for feeding performance horses. For instance, it’s vital to stick to a consistent feeding schedule. They usually need to eat three to four times a day to maintain their digestive health and prevent gastric ulcers. Similarly, hydration is vital for performance horses; they need five to 10 gallons of water a day, but it changes significantly based on the intensity of the exercise and weather conditions.

Endnote

Finding and optimising the diet of your performance horse is vital. To do it properly, you need to consider your horse’s workload intensity, specific discipline, and individual nutritional requirements. Similarly, considering the digestibility and balance of ingredients, and quality of feed components is just as vital. Be sure to educate yourself about your horse’s needs and you will be able to choose the best feed that ensures peak performance.