By Dr Vicki Glasgow

FAQ: What should I feed my “highly strung” competition horse to give him enough energy to do the work expected of him without “fizzing him up”?

A common problem for many people is the competition horse that is full of explosive energy and difficult to handle. Some are like this the entire time whilst others fade as the day/competition season goes on, running out of “petrol” at often crucial moments. Personality traits cannot be changed by feeding and this is the same for the “live-wires” of the equine world. We can, however, try not to exaggerate these traits by ensuring we select the correct type of energy source to feed to our horses.

Slow/Fast Release

It has become standard practice in the world of equine nutrition to refer to feeds as either fast release or slow release. This basically refers to how the energy in that particular feed is metabolised by the horse. With, as one would expect, fast release feeds supplying energy for short sharp bursts of speed (as would be required by a top level show jumper) and slow release providing energy for a sustained period of time (as would be required by an endurance horse). The problem is that all working horses ideally require a good balance of both types of energy, and it is the balance between the two types which will change depending on the type of horse and the type of activity. This is the reason why all horses should be fed as individuals as what will suit a part bred hunter type may not be suitable for the thoroughbred on the yard doing the same work level and discipline.

Energy without Fizz

To provide energy without producing the undesirable fizz the horse should be fed a diet consisting mostly of slow release energy sources. This essentially means that the diet should be high in fibre (including superfibres) and oil but lower in cereals (starch), achievable by selecting the appropriate compound feed. The feed should be high in oil and contain “super fibres” such as sugarbeet pulp, soya hulls, grass or alfalfa. They will normally have descriptions such as slow response or endurance in the title but if in doubt check with the manufacturer of the feed. It is best to stick to nuts for “fizzy” types as they tend to contain a lot less cereal. Mixes tend to be higher in cereal and generally will not suit this type of horse.

Home mix

Another route that can work out very successfully is to select a balancer pellet and build up the horse’s feeding requirements around this. Use a ‘high spec’ chaff such as Alfalfa or dried grass as your base, which will provide as much energy as your average leisure mix/nut. Use sugarbeet pulp and oil to provide the slow release energy to your horse as required. Oil provides 2.25 times more energy than the equivalent weight of cereal and so is also ideal for increasing the nutrient density of the diet. In other words a lot of energy can be provided in a small amount and is therefore ideal for keeping the meal size low. No more than 2 kg of hard feed should be fed in any one meal to prevent digestive upset, which can in itself lead to behavioural problems.

Energy stores

The use of oils in feeds for performance horses also has other benefits. One of these is the fact that there is a glycogen sparing effect when high oil diets are used. This basically means that the fat stores are used up when the animal is performing aerobically at slower speeds and the glycogen stores are reserved for the fast anaerobic sprint work. What this means is that there is more fuel left in the tank and less muscle damage, post hard exercise, due to lower levels of lactic acid accumulation in the muscles. It must be remembered that when high levels of oil are fed extra vitamin E should also be fed, with the current recommendations being an extra 100 IU of vitamin E per 100ml of oil fed. There are some products that are designed to provide high oil levels in a dry form that also contain the appropriate Vitamin E levels to remove this worry (Alfa-Oil and Outshine to name but two).

Cereals

Harder working competition horses will still require some cereal content in their diet to provide the fast release energy and ensure good glycogen reserves in the muscles. If you buy a ready manufactured feed then this is likely already taken care of. If a nut is used, you can rest assured that the cereal content will have been cooked during the pelleting process thus meaning it will be digested in the stomach, which lessens any potential problems in the hindgut (unless you have fed too big a meal size!!). Coarse mixes should contain cooked, flaked or micronised maize and/or barley and whole oats. As already mentioned, however, mixes are best avoided in this scenario. Oats are the only cereal that can be fed unprocessed and are in fact the least heating cereal. If you have gone down the balancer route then this would be the most appropriate cereal to select for your fizzy friend. Small amounts would probably suffice; be prepared to experiment and adjust accordingly to suit temperament and work load (100-500g).

Calming

Magnesium supplements are becoming more and more popular for competition horses. Magnesium supplementation can assist nervous, stressed and spooky horses whose symptoms are a result of depletion in their magnesium stores. Supplementation maintains magnesium at the level required to ensure correct nerve and muscle function thus reducing excitability. Magnesium will not work for every animal, especially if the fizziness and spookiness is due to overfeeding, but can be a very useful tool for stressy types! Some calming supplements are purely magnesium based (eg Nupafeed), others also incorporate herbs (eg Magic from NAF). Interestingly, the most popular calming herb is chamomile, which incidentally contains high levels of magnesium!

On the level

Fizzy horses should be maintained on a high oil, high fibre and low starch (cereals) diet. This can be achieved by selecting the appropriate compound feed or by utilising a balancer pellet with a ‘high spec’ short chop product and topping up with sugar beet, oil, oats etc as required. Magnesium supplementation can help some nervy horses but feeding should be looked at in the first instance. If in doubt please speak to a nutritionist or use the many available help lines offered by the feed manufacturers.