Clinician
Kathleen Crandell, PhD
Kentucky Equine Research
Friday night Kathleen presented a slide show of basic equine dietary needs, and special needs of the distance horse. She introduced research being performed on relevant aspects of feeding for endurance. Questions by attendees, and discussions of feeding 'fads' was encouraged. How to maintain the health of the horse and fuel the needs of performance at higher speeds was addressed - with many questions left unanswered - what is the balance between fat (to maintain weight) and carbohydrate (to fuel the fast pace).
Kathleen performed an analysis on each horse's diet. Clinic attendees brought samples of hay for visual inspection of quality and type, as well as tags and labels of any complete feeds and feed supplements used. Discussions on pasture use - pasture type as well as duration of turn out was also included in the analysis She entered the data for each horse and produced a graph of the essential elements of each horse's diet - carboyhdrate, protein, salt, vitemins, minerals, etc. She then discussed the graph with the rider, pointing out areas of potential deficiency and/or over-supplementation.
Rider interviews produced a variety of feeding programs, here are a few examples:
pasture/hay - grass
Purina Ultima (quantity dependant on work load)
rice bran to maintain weight (fat) - comments on rice bran vs oil as a fat supplement indicated that rice bran may favor lower pulse rate, for faster recoveries
free choice plain salt block
pasture/hay - grass
Equitek (Southern States) 10/10 - 10%fat, 10%protein
Dinje (denge) - moist bagged forage
MyoGuard - antixidant supplement, vit E, Se, Mg, vit C
free choice salt block, plus electyrolyte preloading at least 1 week before competition - mix into feed slurry as long as they'll eat it
pasture/hay - grass
oats
free choice salt block
beet pulp
Selenium yeast
rice bran if need more weight
vitamin E (human capsules)
Comment from Kathleen that perhaps additional vit/min supplement should be considered
pasture/hay - grass, minimal alfalfa
Platinum Performance (flax based feed) 4-5 lbs daily
rice bran, beet pulp for extra weight
Supplement: vit E, Se, biotin, methioninie (comment from Kathleen that nature vit E is more readily aborbed than synthetic)
yoghurt - lactobacilus
Comment from Kathleen - high levels of selenium in this diet, but probably not a problem since it's hard to 'over-do' selenium in horses
grass hay, free choice (no access to pasture)
Vintage Victory or Vintage Sweet (Blue Seal)
Select brand E/Se supplement
beet pulp
Cool Calorie (vegetable fat powder supplement)
rice bran
Questions: carbohydrate supplementation during competition?
Answer: some do, some don't
carb choices - GL/AGL, honey (slower release than corn syrup) - supplementation typically starts at 60 miles, maintain at vetchecks and once mid-loop
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