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| Staff Writer |
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The digestive system of a horse is in some ways much simpler than that of other animals, making it crucial for professionals in the racing industry to have an in-depth understanding of a horse's digestive system as it is fundamental to optimizing horse performance. Although comparatively simpler, the digestion process in horses can be complex when it comes to providing the ideal balance of nutrition. Merely providing food is inadequate for maintaining peak efficiency and precision in a horse's movement.
Instead, trainers and owners must keep an eye out for the specific genetic makeup of each horse. The technology today has allowed companies to be able to curate the feed that will keep the horses performing at a top level, no matter what type of competition or work the horse is being asked to perform. Custom food has simplified the process of putting horses in the best position to be successful.
That is why it is important to stay vigilant on how to best keep the animals healthy as they work on being in top racing shape. Here’s a look at the most important information to know while keeping a racehorse healthy.
Horse owners and anyone working on managing a horse need to have a thorough understanding of how the equine gastrointestinal tract (GIT) functions. Horses don’t have just a few windows of time when they need to eat meals. Instead, horses have a grazing lifestyle, and they have about 16 small meals a day.
Horses are hindgut fermenters. That means horses digest their food primarily in one large area. Many other animals, like cattle, goats, deer, and sheep, are forgetful fermenters and have a more complex digestive system with a rumen and multicompartment stomach. Horses’ guts are small, which is why they have to eat continuously.
Developing food that fits a horse’s GIT is something that everyone needs to put a lot of thought into.
Kentucky Equine Research Chief Operating Officer Eileen Phethean said that they try to develop a strong process before moving forward with a plan.
“All of our research starts with a question,” Phethean said. “It may be, ‘What is the glycaemic response of different feed ingredients?’ or ‘What is the effect of supplementation with long-chain omega-3 fatty acids on post-exercise inflammation?’ or simply ‘Which feed is more palatable?’”
Macronutrients are required in large amounts for your horse’s diet. Protein is important for growth and function. Amino acids support the health of a horse’s muscle tissues and organs. Supplementing amino acids is necessary because they aren’t produced by the horse’s diet. There are a number of sources of high protein, including commercial ration balancers, seed meals, legume hays, growing pasture, dried yeast and amino acid supplements.
There are also micronutrients that are important to a horse’s growth. About 50 per cent of a horse’s diet should be made up of forage. Horses get more of their daily nutrient requirements from forage, which includes pasture and hay.
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How to determine what nutrients are best for different types of horses.
“There are certainly many general performance feeds that are appropriate to feeding horses engaged in a variety of different sports,” Phethean said. “However, when developing a feed that is designed specifically for a certain type of exercise, we are able to tailor the nutrient concentrations and the energy profile (proportion of the calories from different sources of energy) to the particular needs of those athletes. For example, horses that are engaged in short-duration, intense exercise, such as racing, need a higher proportion of rapidly available sources of energy (non-structural carbohydrates or starches and sugars) in their diet, whereas those engaged in endurance pursuits do well on higher levels of slow-release energy sources (fat and fibre) that help them preserve glycogen stores during submaximal exercise. Other sport horses may do best on a product with a balanced energy profile that derives a similar proportion of calories from fat, fibre, and non-structural carbohydrate sources.”
Custom feed formulas can be important for individual racehorse requirements. Tailoring the formulas to each specific horse can help solve difficult, recurring, or mystery cases. It is important to use high-quality ingredients to make sure that harmful additives do not impact the performance of the horse.
Climate can impact how feeds are developed.
“For example, in North America, racing feeds are typically very wet and include a much higher level of molasses inclusion than the feeds you might find produced in Europe or Australia,” Phethean said. “Conversely, sunflower seeds and lupins are common ingredients in Australian horse feeds, but not in North America. So, each feed developed will perform well for the purpose but may be put together slightly differently.”
Gut health is one of the most important components of whole horse wellness and performance. The digestive system has a large impact on many other systems in the horse’s body. Specifically, the health and function of the digestive tract can have an impact on fertility, body condition, immunity, cognition, hoof health, energy and other parts of the body.
All of these functions of the horse’s body rely on nutrients absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. One of the major concerns to worry about with horses is microbiota. The equine intestinal microbiome is composed of bacteria, archaea and eukarya.
“The long-term effects of not providing adequate nutrition to horses can range from chronically poor hoof and coat quality to reduced fertility, failure to thrive, and potentially reduced bone and joint health and overall career longevity,” Phethean said.
How this composition is determined is based on a variety of factors: host genetics, diet, environment, and changes to gut homeostasis. With horses, the microbiome is important for digestion with a fibrous diet.
Many of the bacteria in the process are uncharacterized. Firmicutes and Fibrobacteres species are known to use cellulases to degrade cellulose, while the Bacteroides species (e.g., Prevotella) can degrade pectins and use saccharolytic processes to break down glycans such as hemicellulose.
This entire process results in the production of volatile fatty acids. The microbiome will also help produce some vitamins, including Vitamin K and Vitamin B.
“Probably some of the most important things in terms of a horse’s wellness are water, forage, and movement,” Phethean said. “Horses do best when allowed free-choice access to forage and when they are afforded access to, and significant time turned out. As you know, colic is one of the most dangerous things for horses and reduced water intake is at the top of the list of risk factors, as is significant time spent stabled and poor quality or too little forage intake.”
Finding feed that is rich in nutrients is always the goal. Alfalfa hay is one of the most nutrient-rich feed types and can be useful in the diet of horses with a high nutrient requirement. What is important for everyone trying to maintain that level of health is knowing that there is a pipeline to the supply needed to sustain the horses.
“We see an increasing focus on sustainability within the agriculture industry as a whole, and improvements in how ingredients are grown, transported, and processed improve the sustainability of feeds produced as well,” Phethean said.
“We are continually looking for ways to improve and see increasing use of sustainable, recyclable packaging options to reduce waste. Some mills have made significant investments in the use of renewable energy sources, installing solar panels on mill and warehouse roofs. Others have adjusted delivery schedules to improve transportation and fuel efficiencies and reduce environmental impact.”
Sustaining the strong gut health of a horse is important because it impacts every level of the horse’s overall health. There are many different other systems in the horse’s body that could be impacted by poor gut health. When proper nutrition is used, it can make everything significantly easier.
There have been many ways of trying to sustain the health of horses around the world.
“Once you have travelled the world and observed horse management and feeding in numerous countries, it becomes quickly apparent that though the guiding principles of horsemanship and nutrition are consistent, the preferences of the markets are very different, as are the ingredients that are available,” Phethean said.
“Whenever we are working with a client to develop new feeds, we must consider the contribution of the forages that are predominantly fed, what ingredients are available and traditionally used in horse feeds, different biases that may exist within different disciplines, and the cost of the final product.”