Page 30 - The Game March 2006

30 The Game, March 2006 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Special Advertorial Feature
Health & Nutrition 2006
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29
How can I take advantage of the training effects in my horse’s diet?
Over30 years of work has been done on exercise and the advantages of feeding of fat in horses. In general:
1. Each unit of fat contains over twice as much energy as the same unit of carbo- hydrate, with NO lactic acid production.
2. Fats are well digested by the horse; most sources are 75% to 95% digestible.
3. Energy from vegetable sources (soy, corn, flax) is utilized 30% more efficiently than CHO energy derived from grain and hay.
Research has demonstrated the following benefits of feeding high-fat diets:
1. Increased endurance (the ability to sustain speed over longer periods)
2. Horse operates at lower body temperature during exercise - delays fatigue.
3. Decreased respiratory effort during exercise - delays fatigue.
4. Can meet energy needs with less feed - carry less gut fill to race track!!
Higher fat diets can meet a horse’s nutritional needs with 75 - 80% of the amounts required by traditional feeds. Can
translate to 8 - 12 pounds LESS gut fill over a 3-day period (concentrations other nutrients must be adjusted for lower intake of feed to meet requirements).
5. Increased lactic acid threshold (time to rapid increase in lactic acid concentration in the blood during exercise) - delays fatigue.
6. Increased free fatty acids in blood - supporting other benefits of higher fat diets.
7. Sparing of muscle glycogen stores during exercise - more energy for start and finish.
8. Increase in resting muscle glycogen store - more energy for start and finish.
9. Fat also helps to reduce shifts in blood insulin levels, which occur after a high CHO meal. High insulin levels are detrimental to performance and cause frac- tious behavior, as discussed below.
High levels of grain and molasses: Negative Effects of High Sugar/Starch Diets
The main effects were are trying to reduce by minimizing the soluble CHO (sugar and starch) content of the equine athlete‚s diet are lactic acid production (already discussed), as well as the insulin
increase caused by increased blood glucose levels due to high soluble CHO diets.
The effects of high blood insulin levels due to sugar/starch digestion in the foregut are:
1. increased movement of glucose and amino acids into cells. This action may correlate to a horse tying-up.
2. increased glycolysis. This may also correlate to tying-up by increasing lactic acid production.
3. may affect serotonin levels in brain. May explain hyperactivity and behavioral problems in some horses on high CHO diets.
4. has been associated with ulcers - due to fermentation in foregut.
Research has suggested diets greater than 30% soluble CHO will bypass the small intestine and pass to the hindgut, where they will be fermented by the microbes. Many high grain/high molasses feeds, though typically inexpensive, can be 60% or greater in sugar/starch!!!!!!!
The digestion of sugar/starch digestion in the hindgut favors lactic acid production, which is poorly absorbed and
results in a reduction of pH in the hindgut. Acidic pH is correlated to:
1. osmotic diarrhea (water shifts in to large intestine).
2. overgrowth of pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria.
3. destruction of beneficial bacteria related to colic, endotoxemia and laminitis.
SUMMARY
- How do we manage nutrition for the
equine athlete??
1. Supply up to 15-20% of needed calories with fat during training and
events.
2. Decrease starch in diet (less corn, molasses etc.).
3. Increase digestible fiber in diet (excellent quality grass hay, dried beet pulp).
4. Control feed intake - feed more often during the day; make good grass hay available at all times.
5. Use professionally designed diet to ensure balance of all nutrients with lower intake of higher fat feeds.
6. Supply electrolytes when horse is sweating.
•
Horses are very environmentally friendly and they are rarely a source of, or concern for, groundwater contamination. To help prevent groundwater contamination, horse owners should:
• Refrain from using porous floors in stalls when the subsoil is gravel, sand or
light loam.
• Maintain high volumes of bedding to absorb all urine. Sand-lined stalls could
potentially allow for urine to leach into the porous subsoil and affect the
groundwater.
• Ensure that all all wash water used on horses or to clean stalls is directed away
from field tiles and water courses.
• Ensure that run-off and water from eavestroughs is directed away from manure
storage areas.
• Maintain buffer strips of grass between pasture areas and waterways to prevent
contamination of streams.
• Provide water bowls and/or water tanks year round, rather than depending on
ponds/streams as water sources for horses.
• Maintain low stock densities (1 horse per acre or more). With higher stocking
densities, special considerations, such as frequent manure pick-up in fields and pastures, may be required.
•
A horse produces 3/4 to 1 cubic foot of manure per day, in addition to an equal amount of bedding. Plan for 2 cu. feet of storage space per horse per day, with a 250-day storage period. This means that a minimum of 144 sq. feet of storage space, 3-4 feet high, will be needed per horse per year. With proper composting, this volume can be reduced to half.
For further information contact Dr. Bob Wright (519) 846-3412 or visit our website: http://www.gov.on.ca/omafra/english/livestock/horses
Ontario Association of
Equine Practitioners