A survey on the feeding of eventing horses during competition

Abstract

This study aims at the comparison of the actual feeding of horses with the recommendations from the literature, and it studies the effects of feeding and exercise on several blood metabolic parameters before and after exercise. Blood samples were collected from 25 horses during one-star eventing competitions and evaluated for blood glucose, insulin, lactate, free fatty acids and triglyceride levels. Questionnaires on the feeding practices of the horses were evaluated. The questionnaires revealed that during training, and on tournament days, horses received on average 4.3 kg of concentrate per day (min. 1.54 kg, max. 8 kg). The statistical analysis showed no significant effect of the amount of concentrate fed before exercise on the measured blood values. Oil was supplied as a supplementary energy source to 30% of the horses, but most of them only received very small quantities (0.02-0.4 l/day). Five horses (20%) had no access to salt supplements at all, and eleven horses (45%) had no access to salt on tournament days. Fifteen horses (60%) were supplied with mineral feed. Twenty-one horses (84%) had daily access to pasture during the training period. During competition, 55% of the horses received roughage ad libitum, compared with 37% during training. The majority of the horses received less roughage on days before the cross-country competition. It could not be ascertained whether feeding a large amounts of roughage had a beneficial effect on performance, because only a few horses in this study were fed with very restrictive roughage. Feeding of most of the horses was in agreement with the recommendations from the literature, except the need for sodium and chloride. The sodium and chloride need for sport horses may be overestimated in literature and needs to be re-evaluated.

Feeding Practices and Nutrient Intakes Among Elite Show Jumpers

“…The findings report similar levels of feed intake as reported in other elite groups of sport horses [8][9][10], but also highlight a need for representatives to be mindful of feed selection when traveling to different venues where different feeds are available.…”

Comparison of three different methods for the quantification of equine insulin

“…Data had to be converted from μg/L into the commonly used SI unit μIU/mL to compare the results from ELISA with results derived from RIA and CLIA. In previous studies in which insulin analysis had been performed with the equine-optimized porcine-specific ELISA, data was either presented in μg/L [9, 10, 18] or converted into mU/L [19]. In the latter case, conversion was performed without an exact statement regarding the conversion factor, which was suggested to be 10 in an earlier publication by the same author [9].…”

“…Only one enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) advertised by the manufacturer as being specific for measuring equine insulin is commercially available1, and this is based on anti-porcine insulin antibodies. This assay has been validated for use in horses [8] and has already been used successfully in several studies [9, 10]. …”

Effects of Different Oral Doses of Sodium Chloride on the Basal Acid-Base and Mineral Status of Exercising Horses Fed Low Amounts of Hay

“…Furthermore, plasma aldosterone concentration was reduced in horses in training when consuming diets with low amounts of sodium [12]. On the other hand, eventing horses receiving no or ‘inadequate’ amounts of additional NaCl supplementation showed persistent good performance and apparently undisturbed health [13]. It has been reported that the voluntary intake of NaCl ([12]: 0–62 mg/kg bwt.d) is frequently lower than required to meet the currently recommended intakes for horses in work [12] although it might be sufficient for those in little or no work [14].…”