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Interpreting the Feed Tag Part 1 – Understanding Crude Protein, Fat, and Fiber

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:11:54 +0100

The guaranteed analysis on a feed tag provides concentrations of specific nutrients. This is the information that should be used to correctly pair a concentrate with the type of forages being fed, to fully meet the horse's nutrient requirements. Feed manufacturers are required to list:

Minimum levels of crude protein, crude fiber and crude fat (expressed as percentages)

Minimum and maximum percentages of calcium (percent)

Minimum values for phosphorus (percent), copper (parts per million or ppm), zinc (ppm), selenium (ppm) and vitamin A (International Units per pound)

Some companies may also list other ingredients, such as specific amino acids, biotin or Vitamin E, particularly if the feed is specialized to deal with a growth, metabolic or exercise related disorder, but these are not required to be reported on the tag. This blog post will center on the first three nutrients seen in a guaranteed analysis, crude protein, fat, and fiber.

Minimum Percentage – Crude Protein

Protein is added to equine diets to provide amino acids so that the horse can make other proteins in its body. It is not added to be used as an energy source. This is a major misconception in the horse world. Energy is calories and in horse feeds, carbohydrates and fats are the main sources. Energy or calories are needed to drive the biochemical process of making protein, as well as many other processes such as muscular contraction. Protein should not be used to judge the caloric density of a feed or how “hot” a horse feed is. Horses get “hot” or excited from many variables including but not limited to stress, being fed too much starch and sugar, being confined to stalls and not getting enough exercise, but not from being fed the correct amount of protein in their diets. Also, protein is not the cause of developmental problems in growing horses: rapid growth rates from excessive caloric intake, particularly from starch, nutrient imbalances such as too little protein or minerals and genetic predisposition are all factors in orthopedic disorders. Deliberately restricting protein intake, as with any essential nutrient, is counterproductive when attempting to correct growth, metabolic or exercise related disorders. For more information about protein please read our “The Scoop on Protein” blog post.

Protein comes in many different forms and it is important that the type used in horse feed provides amino acids that the horse can use. For example, cows can use feathers as a source of protein because the microorganisms in the rumen are capable of degrading the protein and liberating nitrogen, but horses have no such mechanism in their stomachs. A cow feed with the source of protein as feathers might guarantee protein at 12% which is accurate for a cow, but the same feed would be protein deficient for a horse. Source of protein is very important! Typically, soybean meal is used as the protein source in horse feeds. Milk proteins are also very available but adult horses cannot tolerate high levels of milk products in the diet as they are lactose intolerant. Steer clear of any product that uses meat or fish products as a protein source for horses. Not only are they less digestible but also very unpalatable.

Minimum Percentage – Crude Fat

Percentage of crude fat gives a good indication how energy dense the feed is. Fat contains nearly 2.5 times as many calories, by weight, as carbohydrate or protein. The higher the minimum percentage of crude fat, the higher the calories provided per pound of feed will be. Most grain-based concentrate mixes without added fat generally range from a minimum of 2 percent to a maximum of 4 percent fat. Many contemporary commercial feeds contain between 5 percent to 10 percent supplemental fat to help replace calories from starch. This is a much healthier way to feed calories to all classes of horses because high starch feeding is directly linked to colic, laminitis, performance disorders, behavioral problems and growth disorders.

Minimum Percentage – Crude Fiber

The crude fiber level on a feed tag can be an indicator of energy content. Insoluble Fiber provides little energy when compared to soluble carbohydrates or fat and serves mostly as bulk filler in the diet. Most grains are relatively low in fiber whereas forages are high in fiber. Grain fiber content ranges from 2 percent for energy-dense grains such as corn, to 12 or 14 percent for bulk grains such as whole or crimped oats that contain hulls (which are highly indigestible and are often seen in manure, though the oat itself has been digested). More contemporary rations with fiber levels higher than 10 percent include very useful forage and roughage products such as alfalfa meal, beet pulp, soybean hulls and rice bran. These “super fibers” are very soluble and easy for hindgut microbes to ferment. The resulting product, volatile fatty acids, can then be used by the horse to make glucose for energy, so these fibers are an indirect source of calories for the horse, not just filler.

Check back next time for part of 2 of Interpreting the Feed Tag where we will look at the minimum and maximum percentages of calcium, and minimum values for phosphorus, copper, zinc, selenium and vitamin A.

A,B,C,D,E,K – Vitamins and the Horse

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:41:44 +0100

Vitamins in the horse’s body serve as antioxidants and are necessary for several metabolic processes, often acting as catalysts in biochemical reactions. Unlike minerals, which are inorganic, vitamins are organic compounds that can be classified as either water- or fat-soluble, depending on how they are absorbed and stored within the body.

Water-soluble vs. Fat-soluble Vitamins

Water-soluble vitamins are dissolved easily in water and, therefore, are quickly excreted from the body on a daily basis; fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract with the help of lipids (fats) and can be stored in body tissues.

B vitamins and vitamin C are water-soluble, and because of their relatively quick excretion, they are not stored within the body. On the other hand, vitamins such as A,D,E, and K are fat-soluble and stored.

Vitamin Sources

The horse is able to produce vitamin D through a process that involves absorbing ultraviolet rays from sunlight into the skin; vitamin C is synthesized from glucose in the liver; and niacin, a B vitamin, is produced by converting the amino acid tryptophan in the liver. Microbes in the hindgut manufacture the remainder of the B vitamins, along with vitamin K. Therefore, the only vitamins the horse theoretically requires from dietary fortification are vitamins A and E, but generally all these vitamins are routinely added to horse feeds.

When to Supplement

The fortification of concentrates and supplements fed to horses above and beyond maintenance requirements is common practice because high-level performance horses, broodmares, and growing horses will benefit from added supplementation (for more information on when and why you should provide additional vitamin supplementation, please see our blog post “Vitamin and Mineral Supplements – Beware of the “Kitchen Sink”). Special cases in which your horse may not be adequately producing the required vitamin amount may also call for additional supplementation. For example, horses that may not receive enough sunlight may become deficient in Vitamin D.

Toxicity & Deficiencies

Despite the extreme importance of vitamins, they are not required in great amounts. In fact, fat-soluble vitamins are stored in body tissues and consequently may actually reach a toxic level if provided in extreme quantities. Though toxicities and deficiencies with regard to vitamin requirements are not common in horses that are fed quality forages and well-formulated concentrates, it is important to detect the early signs that may be indicative of a problem.

The clinical signs of vitamin deficiencies are dependent upon the vitamin in question, for example:

Vitamin A

Inadequate levels of vitamin A will result in decreased appetite and growth, increased respiratory problems, tearing eyes, weakness, poor-quality hair coat, and a lowered conception rate in broodmares

Vitamin D

Deficiencies in vitamin D will produce a similar reduction in appetite and growth

Vitamin E

In tandem with selenium, vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, removing free radicals and protecting body tissues, which is extremely important in the intensively trained horse. Inadequate supply of vitamin E, selenium, or both can result in decreased immune response. As the deficiency becomes more significant, it may cause muscle damage (myopathies) or inflammation of adipose tissue (steatitis), most commonly seen in foals. Insufficiencies of vitamin E in utero could result in generally stiff or weak muscles in the foal or development of white muscle disease

Vitamin K

Insufficient vitamin K reduces the blood’s ability to clot because its function is to activate clotting factors.

As always, if you are worried about your horse’s vitamin intake and if it is reaching or exceeding the daily requirements, be sure to consult an equine nutritionist!

Classifying Equine Feeds

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:39:59 +0100

Looking through and examining the many types of equine feed available in today’s market can be an overwhelming and frustrating experience. Textured, processed, complete, what does it all mean? In order to pick out the best and correct feed for your horse’s nutritional needs, a basic understanding of the terms used to define commercial equine feed is crucial.

Commercial Feed Classification:

Equine feeds are broken down into four general classes:
Textured concentrates (traditionally referred to as “sweet feed”)
Processed concentrates (pelleted or extruded)
Complete Feeds containing forage and concentrate
Supplements (protein, vitamin, and mineral)

Textured

Textured concentrates are composed of grains mixed with molasses. More contemporary textured feeds may also contain forage or roughage products and higher fat to help replace starch calories with fiber and fat calories. Grains may be whole or processed (crimped, cracked, rolled or flaked) to improve digestibility. This mix may be fortified with a vitamin, mineral and protein pre-mix to provide all necessary nutrients and to compliment the forage portion of the diet.

Traditional sweet feeds cause changes in blood sugar levels in horses, which has been linked to excitability, metabolic, growth and exercise related disorders. Using textured feeds that contain beet pulp, alfalfa meal or soybean hulls and vegetable oils is a safer, more appropriate way to feed textured feeds to all classes of horses.

Processed Concentrates

Pelleting and extruding are two methods of processing concentrate products which help improve digestibility and intake. Pelleted feeds also make it harder for horses to sort nutrients that they find distasteful. Extruded feeds are processed under extreme pressure that expands the feed nugget. Both processes help to make starch more digestible by exposing more of the surface of the granule to digestive enzymes in the stomach and small intestine.

Pelleted and extruded feeds contain little molasses, are easy to handle in winter, and do not attract flies in warm months. They have a much longer and more stable shelf life as compared to sweet feeds.

Complete Feeds

Complete feeds contain ingredients from concentrate and forages which are combined into one product. Complete feeds are typically used only when forage quality is poor or unavailable, or when medical conditions dictate, such as a geriatric horse with poor dentition or a horse with allergies. Soluble fibers such as beet pulp, alfalfa meal, rice bran, and soy hulls elevate the fiber content of a complete feed. Due to their high fiber content, complete feeds contain less energy than concentrate mixes and can be fed at a much higher level of intake.

Supplements

Protein, vitamins, and mineral supplements are designed to be fed with unfortified concentrate mixes, when poor quality forages are fed or when trying to achieve a slower growth rate in young horses without compromising quality of growth. They also work well in diets of overweight individuals that do not need calories from a concentrate. Please see our previous blog post, Vitamin and Mineral Supplements – Beware of the “Kitchen Sink” for more information about situations in which to provide additional vitamin and mineral supplementation.

Take Home Message

Each type of commercial feed varies in their processing, the nutrients they contain, and suitability, which is heavily based on your horses nutritional needs. While these feed classification explanations provide some insight into what you read on a feed tag or feed bag, be sure to consult an equine nutritionist if you have difficulty assessing what feed would work best for your horse’s situation.

Micro, Macro, and Chelated – The Differences among Minerals

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:57:36 +0100

Minerals are inorganic molecules, also called elements, which are derived from the earth. Minerals can be incorporated into living tissue (organic) but eventually return to earth in the inorganic form when excreted by the horse, or as ash once the animal is buried or cremated. Minerals are essential to the physical and mental well-being of horses and are components of all cells, including blood cells, as well as nerve, muscle, bone, teeth, hormones, and soft tissue. Many minerals are also an integral part of enzymes that catalyze biochemical reactions such as:

Energy production
Metabolism
Nerve transmission
Muscle contraction
Cell permeability

The various types of minerals that the horse requires in its diet can be broken down into two categories: macrominerals and microminerals. The bioavailability of these macro- and microminerals can also be enhanced by a process called chelation.

Macro versus Micro

Macrominerals, which have established daily intake requirements, are elements needed in large concentrations from the diet. The amount needed is expressed in percentage and these minerals are needed to:

Maintain acid-base balance
Maintain fluid balance
Enable nerve conduction
Assist with muscle contraction

Macrominerals include:

Calcium
Phosphorus
Chlorine
Potassium
Sulfur
Sodium
Magnesium

Microminerals, or trace minerals, are required in minute amounts but also must be obtained from the diet. These minerals are measured in parts per million (ppm), act as components of enzyme systems, and have numerous individual effects within the body.

Microminerals include:

Selenium
Silicon
Iodine
Copper
Zinc
Manganese
Iron
Cobalt

Chelated Minerals

Minerals vary in how the horse absorbs and uses them. The bioavailability of minerals, or its relative availability to the animal, is determined by its interaction with other minerals or dietary components. The more bioavailable a mineral becomes, the lower the dietary concentration needs to be to meet the daily requirement.
Technology that combines the inorganic mineral with an organic molecule has become an alternative to using inorganic minerals in feeds. This process is called chelation and the organic minerals are called “chelates” or “proteinates”.

Chelation involves the attachment of the mineral to an amino acid or other organic component so the two do not disassociate in the digestive system, essentially protecting the minerals so it can be absorbed across the luminal wall of the small intestinal intact.

While chelation can increase the biolavailability of some minerals, the absorption rate of other minerals is not improved with complexing. For minerals that are better fed as a chelate, absorption is more efficient due to a neutral electrical charge.

Both calcium and magnesium are examples where chelated forms are not any better absorbed than inorganic forms, such calcium carbonate and magnesium oxide. Both are easily separated, and the calcium and magnesium ions are well absorbed.

To get the most benefit from your mineral source, organic minerals should comprise at least 25% of the total mineral supplementation.

We will discuss more about minerals and their specific functions, so be sure to check back soon!

Feeding Myths Debunked – Pellets & Beet Pulp

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:37:12 +0100

There are a number of myths and misconceptions when it comes to feeding the horse. Many traditional feeding methods have been passed from generation to generation of horsemen, and while some of these methods are still useful, many are outdated and even detrimental to the horse’s nutritional health. The topic of feeding myths has been brought up before in our blog posts “The Scoop on Protein” and “The Truth Behind Bran Mash – Its Uses & Disadvantages” and now here are two more myths: “pellets cause choke” and “beet pulp must be soaked”.

Myth – Pellets Cause Choke

The thought that pelleted horse feed can result in choking is a falsehood. Pellets don’t cause choke; horses that eat too fast cause choke. When horses become overly hungry due to long periods with nothing to eat, are fed in close proximity to their neighbors, or feel threatened eating in a field, they tend to become very aggressive when eating. Choke is a behavioral problem, not a “form of feed” problem.

Horses have the ability to choke on fresh grass, hay, sweet feeds, large cubes, pellets, apples, carrots, straw, shavings, and handfuls of mints. A horse that eats too aggressively and bolts his feed is likely to choke on any food source.

The key to preventing aggressive eating is to change the management of the horse. This can be done by:

Increasing turnout time and/or grazing time
Increasing feeding frequency
Feeding smaller portions of feed
Separating an aggressive horse from the herd when being fed
Making sure horses do not become overly hungry from spending long periods of time with nothing to eat

Another management technique you can utilize is feeding in a shallow trough or pan with large smooth stones that prevent the horse from getting a large mouthful of feed; this can be done in conjunction with the aforementioned techniques.

Myth – Beet Pulp Must be Soaked

The common myth that beet pulp (either in shredded or pelleted form) must be soaked is also untrue. As a matter of fact, most commercial textured feed mixes on the market today contain beet pulp as an ingredient and these feeds are not soaked before feeding.

Feeding beet pulp un-soaked to a horse does not cause it to expand in the stomach to the point of rupture due to absorption of water and does not cause choke in a horse with normal eating behavior. Beet pulp has about the same amount of dry matter as alfalfa hay and therefore soaks up a similar amount of fluid when ingested.
In most cases, if beet pulp is fed alone instead of as part of a pre-mixed feed, it is more palatable if it has been soaked. Soaked beet pulp is also a great carrier for feeding medications and supplements to horses. But it is absolutely not true that it will cause choke or gastric rupture if fed dry to a horse that does not eat too fast.

Food Allergies in Horses – A Tricky Conundrum

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:10:08 +0100

Over the past several years, testing horses for horse feed allergies has become very popular in veterinary practice. When a horse develops a skin and/or respiratory problem, the feed the horse is eating immediately becomes suspect as a causative agent. What is problematic about this situation is that the horse is limited to all vegetarian dietary ingredients and with the list of possibilities that can be used to make horse feed limited to twenty, it has not been uncommon for the allergy test to come back reporting the horse is allergic to almost all the ingredients in feed. Why is this occurring and what is a better way to test for food allergies? First, we must look at the method of allergy testing commonly used to understand why horses appear to be allergic to a high percentage of food ingredients.

Allergy Testing Methods

Blood Testing Methods

Blood testing for allergies is difficult because the organ that is most affected by the allergy – the skin – is not being tested for a reaction. There are also several different types of blood tests offered, which may vary in accuracy of results, and lack of standardization between laboratories makes the validity of the tests and final results questionable.

Intradermal Allergy Tests (IDAT)

IDAT is a commonly used allergy testing method that involves injections of allergens, such as mold and pollen, into the horse’s skin, usually the neck area. A veterinary dermatologist evaluates the skin for a reaction that is called either wheals or hives; these are measured for several hours and at that time the largest wheals indicate which allergens should be used in hyposensitization injections.

It is important to note that at this point that neither blood testing nor intradermal skin testing are very useful in identifying allergy to food. Many normal horses will react to at least some of the allergens on the allergy panel and to complicate matters further, the panel of allergies may not contain what the horse is actually allergic too. While food allergy in horses is rare, it is a real diagnosis that can be confounded by traditional allergy tests that often show hypersensitivity to something the horse commonly eats.

Another Way to Test

Clinical signs of a food allergy include:

Hives
Itchiness
Possible self-trauma due to scratching

The most dependable method of testing for a food allergy is to eliminate the suspected food allergen from the diet for 4 – 8 weeks and to see if the condition improves. If a specific food allergen cannot be pinpointed, the next step may be to perform a food allergy trial. A practical way to begin a food-allergy trial is to remove concentrates (grain or pellets) and all supplements from the horse’s diet and just feed forage. If the condition improves, the concentrate could be fed again to see if the allergy symptoms return, or simply try another feed and see if the symptoms do not re-appear.

Take Home Message

Food allergy in horses is a very real, but rare case that is often tricky to diagnosis if traditional methods of allergy testing (blood and Intradermal) are used. If you suspect your horse is suffering from a food allergy, it is best to remove the suspected allergen from the diet for 4-8 weeks and see if the condition improves or to perform your own food allergy trial.

In many cases, stabled horses become highly sensitized to mold, pollen, moisture, ammonia and poor ventilation. Stress from confinement can also cause compromised immune function which can lead to a predisposition for allergies. Getting horses out on pasture and lowering stress levels may do more good than anything for what appears to be an allergic horse.

Vitamin & Mineral Supplements – Beware of the “Kitchen Sink”

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:21:33 +0100

With hundreds of vitamin and mineral supplements on the market today it can be difficult in knowing what kind of vitamin/mineral supplement to feed and what type of situation warrants extra supplementation, as well as what products you should avoid.

Cases for Supplementation

Vitamin and mineral supplements are designed to provide additional fortification to the rations of horses enduring higher levels of stress. Situations that may warrant supplementation include:

When poor quality forage is fed
Growing horses
Broodmares in late gestation and early lactation
Correcting nutritional deficiencies
Healing of bone and soft tissue injuries
High levels of intense exercise
Treating metabolic disorders

If you have a horse that fits into one of these categories, administering a proper vitamin/mineral supplement can be beneficial to the horse’s overall health and well-being. For example, supplementing higher levels of magnesium seems to help nervous horses that tend to have problems with tying-up. Many of these horses have low serum levels of magnesium and respond very positively when supplemented anywhere from 5-10 grams per day of additional magnesium. This type of situation calls for a very specific “supplement” requirement, and therefore it is extremely important to select a product designed to address this issue and not problems that the horse is not suffering from.

Use Caution when Supplementing

Another example of “disorder specific supplementation” is the use of vitamin E and selenium which may be required in higher levels for certain muscle and/or neurological problems. Caution must be taken though when supplementing these and other types of vitamins/minerals because they can be toxic if over supplemented or fed incorrectly. Too much of one vitamin/mineral may also interact negatively with another vitamin/mineral. For example, if zinc levels are in excess of 700 ppm, it can interfere with copper utilization. If you are in doubt about how much of a certain vitamin or mineral you horse receives in his daily ration and if it should be increased or decreased in his ration be sure to consult an equine nutritionist.

Avoiding “Economic Excess”

While an excess of some vitamins and minerals can be dangerous to a horse, others are simply eliminated naturally. For example, supplemental B complex vitamins can be useful for the production of energy in the hard working horse at times, and over supplementation of these water soluble vitamins only cause the kidneys to do a bit extra work, as these are eliminated in the urine on a daily basis. While an excess of this vitamin may not hurt the horse, it does affect the bottom line of the business, and therefore should be discontinued!

Take Home Message

Care must be taken not to duplicate and over feed vitamins and minerals when using supplements. In most cases, if the horse is healthy, fed a good quality pasture or forage in ample amounts, and receives additional fortification through the feeding of a concentrate formulated to meet its individual needs, extra vitamin and mineral supplementation is not generally needed.

If it is decided a horse needs additional supplementation above what it is receiving in the daily ration, be sure to read the tag and make sure that the supplement will provide what the horse is lacking and that the ingredients are biologically available (for example silicon dioxide is essentially “sand” and not a source of bio-available silicon, whereas mono-silicic acid is). Try to steer clear of “kitchen sink” supplements or those that have a little bit of many nutrients in them but not enough of them to exert any significant effect.

Supporting Equine Digestion – Intestinal Micro-organisms for Healthy Gut Function

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:53:29 +0100

The equine digestive tract is a fragile system and the rigors of training often cause disruption of normal function to occur. Gastrointestinal disorders, such as gastric ulcer syndrome, are common among the equine population and are often treated with a variety of pharmacological agents. While we can treat some gastrointestinal disorders with certain drugs, we must also instill good preventive care of the digestive tract so we can lower the incidence of such disorders and help the horse maintain healthy gut function.

Supporting the Digestive Tract

One of the best ways to support the equine digestive tract is to supply it with the actual organisms that reside there and a food supply for those organisms to utilize. Digestive support supplements generally provide prebiotics and probiotics (also called “direct fed microbials”) that help to stabilize and promote the health of the microbial populations that reside in the hindgut.

Prebiotics & Probiotics

The two categories of direct fed microbials differ in their function and use by the horse.

Prebiotics:

· Non-digestible (by the host) food ingredients that have a beneficial effect through their selective metabolism in the intestinal tract. Prebiotics have the ability to selectively promote the growth of healthy intestinal bacteria.

· Example of a Prebiotic – Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS)

o FOS promotes the growth of beneficial bacteria such as Acidophilus and Bifidus. FOS provides a food source that only beneficial species of bacteria can utilize and are mainly derived from chicory or sugar beets when used as a supplement for horses.

Probiotics:

· Actual living microorganisms which, when administered in significant amounts, help the horse by re-establishing or maintaining their populations in the digestive tract.

· Examples of a Probiotic – Live Yeast Culture & Equine-Specific Bacteria

o Live Yeast Culture

A well-studied probiotic that helps prevent the colonization of pathogenic microorganisms in the gut, improves the percentages of useful microorganisms in the intestinal tract, boosts immune function, and strengthens the structure of the gut wall. Overall, live yeast in a horse’s daily diet can help improve digestion and absorption of nutrients by keeping the hindgut stable and correctly populated with healthy micro-organisms.

o Equine-Specific Bacteria – Lactobacillus reuteri and Saccharomyces boulardii

L. reuteri and S. boulardii are two types of bacteria that have been found extremely useful in supporting and maintaining equine digestive function and are two ingredients to look for in a probiotic supplement.

The bacterium L. reuteri is of equine origin, cultured from the colon of the horse, and has been shown to inhibit the growth of Salmonella.

S. boulardii is a yeast organism that has been shown effective in the prevention and treatment of enteric clostridial disease.

When to Use

Prebiotics and probiotics should be fed when the horse is subjected to:

· Stress	· Reduced digestive efficiency in geriatrics
· Shipping	· Competition
· Weaning	· Changes in diet
· Sickness	· Injury
· Surgery	· Infection

However, the greatest benefit of prebiotics and probiotics is obtained from their protective and preventative effects. They therefore they should be used on a continuous basis in order to constantly support and maintain healthy digestive function.

Essential Fatty Acids – The Functions and Benefits

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:04:02 +0100

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) are compounds that are called essential because they are not synthesized by the body and, therefore, must be obtained from dietary sources. EFA’s, Omega 3 Fatty Acids in particular, serve as components of nerve cells, cellular membranes, and the very important regulatory substances known as prostaglandins.

Prostaglandins are responsible for functions such as:

Regulating response to pain, inflammation

Synthesizing hormones

Dilating or constricting blood vessels

Maintaining the fluidity of cellular membranes

Transporting oxygen from red blood cells to tissues

Decreasing inflammation

Since EFA’s are heavily involved in a variety of essential and vital life functions, the benefits of feeding supplemental EFA’s include:

An increase in strength and stamina due to positive effects on the endocrine system producing the hormones and enzymes necessary for enhanced athletic performance.

Increased insulin sensitivity and efficiency, promoting the synthesis of muscle, and the ability of cell to utilize nutrients efficiently.

Increased neurological sensitivity and innervation of muscle fibers, contributing to strength and twitch responsiveness.

Improved ability to transport and utilize oxygen, hence improved stamina due to affinity of carbon chain of Omega-3 fatty acids for oxygen.

Increased elasticity of connective tissue and bone density.

Recovery time from exercise and injury may be shortened because of the factors listed above and due to the enhanced immune system. The immune system is suppressed by intense exercise and plays an important role in recuperation. A suppressed immune system leads to over training, injury, and poor performance.

Improved permeability of cellular membranes, allowing improved nutrient uptake and removal of toxic metabolites resulting from intense bouts of exercise.

In addition to the benefits listed above, EFA supplementation has also been shown to improve respiratory conditions and help accelerate the healing of quarter cracks and other skin and hoof disorders. One type of EFA, Omega 3 acids, may be extremely beneficial for horses that are bleeders or tend to have chronic inflammatory bowel syndrome as well.

If you decide additional supplementation of EFA’s may be beneficial to your horse, be sure to choose high quality sources. Flax seed oil, the best source for horses, should be unrefined and cold pressed. Refined oils are processed which eliminates many valuable nutrients.

Picky Eaters – Feeding Strategies for the Finicky Horse

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:18:23 +0100

Feeding horses with a selective palate can become a frustrating matter, but horses that become particular about what they want in their feed tub are not an uncommon. Horses that compete and train at levels that expend great amounts of energy can have trouble consuming enough feed to meet energy (calorie) demands. Older and recuperating horses also tend to back off their feed as well. In order to maintain your horse’s nutritional demands and overall body condition, well organized feeding strategies become vital.

Always remember to first evaluate your horse for any underlying problem that may cause him to stop eating, such as dental pain and digestive tract issues like ulcers.

Feeding Strategies – Concentrates

The horse is an herbivore designed to graze forages on a continuous basis, so feeding large amounts of grain, which is not a natural feedstuff for the horse, can lead to starch overload in the hindgut and therefore presents a problem for horses that are finicky eaters but need the calories to maintain good body condition. While grains are very palatable and high in digestible energy, remember to incorporate a reasonable amount in the horse’s diet. You may also want to consider including other ingredients like vegetable oils and soluble fibers, most notably beet pulp, soybean hulls, and rice bran, into your horse’s ration because these ingredients can help increase the ration’s digestible energy content without increasing the risk of starch overload. Remember that:

Fats and fibers do not cause an increase in blood glucose when consumed.

Soluble fibers and oils are palatable to horses and can actually make the ration taste better.

If you feed concentrates to a finicky eater, pick products in pelleted or extruded forms. These types of concentrates have been ground, mixed together and then heated and formed into small nuggets. Two beneficial points about pelleted or extruded concentrates are:

The heating process actually alters the starch molecule, making it more digestible and easier to absorb, so less change in blood glucose levels occurs after a meal.

Pelleted and extruded rations help prevent the sorting of vitamins and minerals out of the mixture, which many picky eaters are quite adept at doing.

When feeding concentrates, remember to break it up into as many small feedings as possible, as research has shown the capacity to overload the hindgut with grains occurs when the horse is fed more than 0.4% of its body weight at any one feeding. For a 1,000 lb. horse, this means no more than 4 -5 lb. of concentrate mix per feeding. Horses also prefer fresh, small meals to large meals that have been sitting in the feed tub for a while.

Feeding Strategies - Forages

The basis of all equine diets is forage, so a horse should always have ample amounts of quality forage available at all times. For the performance horse, a good forage choice is a grass and legume mixed hay. Remember that the quality of forage is determined by:

Stage of maturity when cut
Growing conditions
Amount of fertilization of the field in which it is grown
How it is prepared and stored after being cut

If you have a horse that needs to gain weight and is selective about the forages it consumers, feed an alfalfa hay. Alfalfa contains more calories and is much more digestible than most grass hay.

Take Home Message

While feeding the finicky horse can be a difficult task, a well thought out feeding strategy and accurately identifying nutrient requirements can help provide balanced nutrition. In addition to looking at what you are putting in your horse’s feed tub, always take a minute to examine his surroundings. Stress and discomfort will also impact your horse’s desire to eat; it is just as important to adjust environmental influences much as his ration to promote overall mental and physical health.