For centuries and centuries, horses have been used for a myriad of purposes. Riding, transportation, pulling carts, plowing farm fields and various sports. Horses are one of nature’s best runners. Did you know that the fastest race horse ran at a record breaking speed of 70.76 km per hour? Right behind the Cheetah!
Horse owners and breeders involved in the sport of horse racing know how crucial diet is for a race horse’s performance. If you want a winner, you can’t just call it a day after getting yourself a thoroughbred. The diet, relaxation, massages and exercise are all integral components of the game.
Protecting your horse from equine colic
If your horse has been showing symptoms like pawing, rolling around in the dirt and not being able to defecate properly, then chances are he is suffering from one of the most common digestive system disorders for equine called equine colic that causes abdominal pain.
Horses are natural grazers. In the wild, they spend most of their time grazing out in an open field, for about 17 hours every day. Reducing that long, slow and steady feeding routine to two grain packed meals a day in their stalls can upset their stomach. However, there are a few things you could do to avoid that.
Always feed hay before grain because a hungry horse will hoard down the grain without chewing it properly. Feeding hay first will take the edge of his hunger, so that by the time he starts eating grain, he chews properly. Therefore, the digestion of the grain and absorption of the essential nutrients will improve.
Feed the horse many small meals to mimic their natural tendency to graze. Instead of giving him one large meal, evenly divide the food out into multiple meals throughout the day to avoid colic by maintaining a relatively constant level of normal flora needed to digest food.
Let’s go through some essential race horse diet tips
Water
Provide a constant supply of fresh, clean water for your horse to prevent colic and dehydration. A 500 kg horse will drink about 30-45 liters a day. Horses feeding on grass will require less water since they ingest small quantities of water with every bite of the wet grass.
Vitamins and Minerals
Even though they are required in smaller quantities compared to macronutrients, they are very much vital for the horse’s normal biochemical functions including the immune system, endocrinology, skeletal integrity and cellular communication. The trace elements that horses require as minerals include cobalt, copper, zinc, selenium. Iron, iodine etc. The vitamins not only serve as co factors for enzymes, but also aid the absorption of macronutrients which makes the intake of Vitamin A, D, E, and K crucial. Unlike humans, horses can manufacture their own vitamin C so they don’t need a lot of it in their diet. Giving your horse Vitamin and Mineral supplements is a good idea because it sufficiently meets the micronutrient needs of your race horse.
Protein
People tend to overdo the protein content in their race horse’s feed. Excessive protein in their diet will be excreted with urine in the form of ammonia, and the carbon skeleton left of those amino acids is utilized for ATP (energy) production. Avoid excessive protein in their diet to prevent abnormally high blood urea level and abnormally high ammonia levels which can be dangerous because ammonia is poisonous.
