Question
Can you recommend which feeds would be best during a 100-mile ride for holds at vet checks? Which feed you would recommend for the two to three weeks after a ride when my horse is running around the pasture on rest and recovery but not being ridden?
Answer
Feeding during a ride. The most important thing about feeding at rest stops during a ride is to keep the horse eating—whatever it takes. Their taste choices can change dramatically at this time and what the horse normally eats on a daily basis may seem unappetizing during a race. The key is to have a variety of feed choices to keep the horse interested in eating. Sometimes it is the neighbor’s meal that appeals and not what you have brought for him. The important thing is to offer what is appetizing so he does get something in his stomach during his time at the stop.
On the forage side, good-quality grass hay and alfalfa (lucerne) would be available for the horse to nibble on. Sometimes they will want the alfalfa, sometimes the grass hay. It is hard to predict which will be most enticing, so have both. The forages can be in the form of regular hay or chopped hay (chaff) or hay cubes/pellets. Because water intake is of the utmost importance, the forage can be served wet, or the chopped, cubed or pelleted hay can be made into a mash with something like beet pulp and wheat bran. If there is green grass available, the horse will truly benefit from grazing or being offered some fresh-cut grass because it not only supplies the horse with beneficial fiber but it is also 70-80% water.
Concentrate should also be offered at the stop. The idea is to get some starch (from grains) into the horse because starch is a fairly rapidly available source of energy once the horse gets back on the trail. It can be anything from oats to a commercial concentrate. They tend to prefer something sweet and tasty like a sweet feed (up to 6% fat). Even if the horse never gets sweet feed on a daily basis, here is the time when he can really use that extra starch to fuel him down the trail.
From experience, I have found that some horses go off the high-fat feeds (10-12% fat) when they come into the vet checks. Further, fat added at this time will not help much with energy generation during the race, since the digestion of fats is different from starches or fiber. Horses will be using stored fat (adipose) for energy during the race, not the fat that is fed at the stops. However, having added fat in the daily diet is good, particularly if the horse is a hard keeper, and it will help the horse’s body adapt better to utilizing the adipose energy store during a race.
The exception to this is rice bran (20% fat). If the horse likes rice bran, then it can be fed in small quantities at the stops as well.
Feeding 1 to 2 lb (0.5 to 1 kg) of a concentrate feed at a stop is all that should be offered at one time so the horse has some room for forage intake as well.
Towards the end of the race, the horse may get particularly picky after so many doses of electrolytes irritating the stomach. To minimize irritation, it is really important to not give electrolytes until the horse has a full stomach at the end of his time at the stop, unless the horse will eat the electrolytes in his feed.
During a race is not the time to worry about getting the daily supplements into the horse (joint, hoof, etc.). That should be done before the horse starts running. Anything that will detract from the taste and deter the horse from eating should be left out. You may want to consider feeding some kind of yeast or probiotic supplement, but again, if the horse won’t eat with it in the food, leave it out.
It is good to get a combination of forage and feed into the horse during the stop, but don’t panic if at one stop the horse only wants feed or only hay. By the end of the race, it will all even out.
Whatever you offer at the stop can be introduced in small amounts in the week or so prior to going to the race so that it is not such a shock to the system on the day of the race. For example, if the horse does not normally have beet pulp or alfalfa on a daily basis, mix a little soaked beet pulp (just a handful) into the normal ration of the horse so the horse can acquire a taste for it or feed a small amount of alfalfa. If you intend to offer a sweet feed at the stops, this is when a handful of that can be offered as well, although usually a horse does not have to acquire a taste for sweet feed.
Ideally, all the rations should be fed wet at a stop so as to get more water into the horse, but if the horse is not accustomed to getting his feed wet he may refuse it. Try serving the feed dampened and progressively wetter over the weeks coming up to the race so that the horse can get accustomed to consuming it wet.
Feeding after a race. The horse’s metabolism will be in high gear after a race, so paying particular attention to the feeding regime the first couple of days will be important to keep the horse from losing too much weight. Small, frequent meals should be fed for the first three days after the race and can be tapered off to a normal ration for the next few days. For the remainder of the downtime, the horse can be on a light ration if the weight is good unless he is still too thin, in which case a higher calorie feed would be advisable.
