NUTRITION OF THE PERFORMANCE HORSES

NUTRITION OF THE PERFORMANCE HORSES

INTRODUCTION :
• Equidae is a family of odd-toed ungulate mammals of horses and horse-like animals. All extant equids are in the genus Equus and include the three basic groups of horses, asses, and zebras.
• Domestication of the horse has influenced the characteristics of the horse and this domestication took place around 5000 to 6000 years ago.
• During the first contact with humans, the horse stayed in his natural environment. To help the horse, the human gave the horse food and shelter. Searching for food was no longer needed. This made the horse dependent on humans.
• The horse could evolve through centuries from being a hunted animal to becoming a draught-horse, working horse, beast of burden, battle horse and riding animal.
IMPORTANT HORSE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Herbivore: feeds mainly on grasses, herbs, vegetables, and water.
• Prey animal for predators and his best defense is to flee. So he is also called a flight animal. The horse can reach a very high speed when galloping.
• The horse is also a social, hierarchical, steppe/prairie, instinctive, creature of habit.
 HISTORY OF HORSE RACING:
• Knowledge of the first horse race is lost in prehistory. Both four-hitch chariot and mounted (bareback) races were held in the Olympic Games of Greece over the period 700–40 BCE.
• Organized racing : China, Persia, Arabia, and other countries of the Middle East and in North Africa, where horsemanship early became highly developed
 Modern era of racing: considered to have been the inauguration of the English classic races: the St. Leger in 1776, the Oaks in 1779, and the Derby in 1780.
• To these races were later added the Two Thousand Guineas in 1809 and the One Thousand Guineas in 1814.
• 19th century: races of the English classic pattern—dashes for three-year-olds carrying level weights—spread all over the world. The French classics are the Prix du Jockey Club (1836), the Grand Prix du Paris (1863), and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (1920).
• India: over 200 years old.
• The first racecourse: Madras (1777). Today, India has a very well established racing and breeding industry, and the sport is conducted on nine racetracks by six racing authorities.
• Turf Clubs: Banglore, Hyderabad, Royal Calcutta, Royal Western India, The Maysor Race Club, Madras Race Club, Delhi

 CLASSIFICATION OF HORSES ACCORDING TO WORK :
• Light work (recreational riding, beginning training, and horses that occasionally show):
1-3 hrs. work/wk. composed of 40% walking, 50% trotting, and 10% cantering.
• Moderate work (lessons, recreational riding, polo, and light ranch work):
3-5 hrs. work/wk. composed of 30% walking, 55% trot, 10% canter, and 5% low jumping, cutting or other skill work.
• Heavy work (ranch work, polo, horses that frequently show in strenuous events, low to medium-level eventing, middles stages of race training):
4-5 hrs. work/wk. composed of 20% walking, 50% trotting, 15% cantering, and 15% galloping, jumping, or other skill work.
• Very heavy work (Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred racehorses, endurance horses, and upper-level three-day eventers):
Various work durations from one hour per week of speed work to 6 to 12 hrs. slow work.
 NUTRIENT NEEDS OF THE PERFORMANCE HORSES

• Water:
A. Like other species, an adequate supply of clean water is important for horses – Should have water available all the time via buckets, troughs, ponds, or streams.
B. The water content of the body is relatively constant (68 to 72% of the total weight on a fat-free basis) and cannot change appreciably without severe consequences.

 Energy:
A. The energy requirements are expressed in megacalories (Mcal) of DE.
B. Differences among individuals
“Easy keeper” – Often used to describe a horse that can maintain body weight on less than the average dietary energy supply.
“Hard keeper” – One requires more than the average dietary energy to maintain body weight.
C. Important for maintaining body temp. growth, milk production, normal body functioning activity.

 Protein:

1. Protein is broken down into amino acids to be used for muscle development during growth or exercise. Most adult horses only require 8 to 10% protein in their diet; however, higher protein is important for lactating mares, young growing foals and high-level athletes.
2. Although working horses seem to handle higher protein levels in the diet, exercise has little effect on the protein requirement of horses.
3. To satisfy the increased protein needs of the horse feed intake can be increased.
4. The energy density of the diet can be increased with the inclusion of grain or concentrate.
5. Needed for growth, maintenance of muscles, bones, skin, hair and hooves.
    Vitamins:
   A. Fat-soluble vitamins:
   1) Vitamin A and E are of the most practical importance in horse diets:
   a) One of the richest sources of β-carotene (precursor of vitamin A) is “green” pasture
   b) Vitamin E activity – High in forages with an early stage of maturity
   2) Vitamin D – Usually, supplementation of horses kept outside is not necessary.
   3) Vitamin K – The requirement has not been established.
   B. Water-soluble vitamins: Little information is available on the horse’s dietary need
   1) A dietary requirement for vitamin C has not been determined.
   2) Microbes in the hind gut seem to be capable of synthesizing several B vitamins.
    Minerals:
   A. Ca & P – Special importance in horses:
   B. Sodium, K, and Cl – Function as electrolytes and essential for all classes of horses.
    BASICS OF HORSE FEEDING
    Feed your horse (or horses) with small portions regularly. Horses are generally used to be eating 60-80% of their time.
    Don’t change the feed or feeding time just at once, make small changes. For example, if you want to change from one muesli to the other mix it first like 1/4 and 3/4, the next day 1/2 and 1/2, the next day 3/4 and 1/4 and after that fully the other muesli.
    Feed as much as the horse NEEDS, if it gets too skinny feed it more, if it gets too fat you feed it too much.
    Always feed your horse with enough hay.
    Supply your horse with hay first before you give it muesli or cubes. The chewing provides the mouth with saliva.
    Let the horse rest for at least 1 hour after feeding before you ride it.
    Always provide your horse with fresh water.

 FEEDING PRACTICES AND FEEDING SCHEDULES FOR HORSES
• Ideally, horses should be given free access to hay and/or pasture forages with salt and water ad lib.
• Horses should not be offered >0.5% of their body weight in high starch/sugar grain-based concentrates (eg, textured grain, pellets, or extruded feed) in a single feeding.
• More than this in a single meal reduces digestive efficiency and predisposes to problems such as gastric ulcers, insulin resistance, laminitis, and colic. If large amounts of grain-based concentrates are being fed (>0.4% body wt/day), the total amount offered daily should be divided into two or more feedings.
• Most horses fed good-quality forages require little to no concentrate supplementation. Exceptions are hard-working horses or those with limited access to good-quality forage (<2% body wt in feed dry matter)
• Because horses are particularly sensitive to toxins found in spoiled feeds, all grains and roughages offered should be of good quality and free of mold.
• Grains should be stored at a moisture content of <13%. In warm, humid areas, mold inhibitors may help reduce feed spoilage.
• In contrast, excessively dry, dusty feeds tend to initiate or aggravate respiratory problems. Dampening or soaking such feeds in water before feeding can help alleviate this problem.
 WATER AND ELECTROLYTES FOR ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE:

• Horse’s sweat contains protein, whose concentration decreases after the early stages of sweating. This protein has detergent like properties that help disperse sweat droplets into a thin film along the hairs; this helps evaporation.
• Sweating rate: 10 to 15L/hr and 6.5 to 9L/hr at endurance racing speeds.
• An extensive amount of body water is lost during athletic performance by the horse resulting in up to a 50L sweat loss.
• Extended work, in hot dry weather, by a 450-500kg horse may yield losses of as much as 35L or water, 80g sodium, 59g potassium and 149g chloride.
• The loss of sodium, for example, represents over 200g of sodium chloride (salt) which is much more than a horse would eat in a day.

 HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR HORSE IS DEHYDRATED?

• Dryness of the mucous membranes and eyes, and decreased jugular vein distensibility, rate of capillary refill, and skin elasticity.
• Dehydration of 4 to 5% or greater can de detected by delayed recoil of a fold of pinched-up skin,
• Sunken eyes, dry mouth, dry faeces and decreased urine volume. The plasma protein concentration is increased to 7.2g/dl or higher, which is a more accurate indication of dehydration than the hematocrit.
 WATER AND ELECTROLYTE DEFICIT PREVENTION :
• 125g of sodium and 175g of chloride (318g salt) per day of excessive sweating. It will consume this amount of salt if it is made available.
• Appropriately lesser amounts of NaCl for shorter-duration or less-profuse sweating should be added to the grain mix at each feeding for 1 to 2 days afterwards.
• Both water and forage consumption before, and as frequently as possible during endurance activity is beneficial in preventing dehydration and electrolyte loss.

 FEEDING FEED SUPPLEMENTS TO ATHLETIC HORSES :

• Yeast: supplementation of yeast in horse diets tended to show some effects on fermentation
• Chelated minerals: Mineral ions attached to proteins, specific amino acids or other organic molecules
• Fatty acids: diets do not normally have an overabundance of LA, and forages contain more than three times the amount of ALA as LA.
• Probiotics: Products intended to deliver live colonies of various bacteria to the digestive tracts of healthy animals.
• Enzymes: Cellulases, hemicellulases, carbohydrases and proteases, are added to animal feeds to attempt an improvement in digestion
• Joint health supplements: Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, a combination of the two and possibly manganese ascorbate; compounds perceived as “chondroprotective,”

 Dr. Akshay J. Wankhade M.V.Sc (Animal Nutrition)





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