HORSE TRAINING AND FOOD: NEVER WITHOUT ‘ GAS

An horse training, whatever its sport, cannot start with an empty stomach, it could be very dangerous, even cause stomach ulcers. In the wild, horses spend the day grazing grass, moving around all the time; when they are stabled, on the other hand, it is up to the caretaker to feed them, often, at set times. It is therefore our job to ensure that our friend can eat every three to four hours. With more prolonged distances between meals, we may encourage the development of various diseases. Unlike many other herbivores, in fact, horses are monogastric, i.e. they have only one stomach, which is small in size, with a capacity of around twenty litres. 

Beware of juices

Horses’ stomachs continuously produce gastric juices, precisely because of their feeding habits. These juices, whose function is to ‘digest’ food, are very aggressive and acidic. Under fasting conditions, they attack the stomach walls. During exercise, the excess of gastric juices can become really dangerous if acid splashes hit the stomach walls, causing real burns. This can happen if the horse is fasting and, as a result, the gastric juices cannot perform their function on the food.

What to eat before work

Equally dangerous, however, is to work a horse that has just consumed a massive dose of food. It is, therefore, necessary to find a balance so that the athlete horse does not find itself exercising too heavy or completely fasting. Before exercise, therefore, let’s only feed. Let’s make sure it is top quality and

long-stemmed, possibly a little coarse, so that we encourage chewing and saliva production.

If we have the possibility, we prefer alfalfa hay, which is optimal in balancing and controlling gastritis and gastric ulcers. In principle, 30% alfalfa hay

is the most suitable amount for our horses, rising to 50% for subjects engaged in high-level activities.

The production of saliva, facilitated by this herb, is fundamental as it is able to neutralise the acidity of the gastric juices. In any case, avoid overdoing it before work. The stomach borders the lungs, through the diaphragm, and an over-expanded stomach could hinder breathing. As a guideline, we can forage with a ration of 200-300g per quintal.

Avoiding mistakes

It is often thought that to improve the performance of an athlete’s horse it is a good idea to administer concentrates in the 3 hours before exertion. In reality, this is not the case. Most concentrates, in fact, have a high starch content that is absorbed by the small intestine in the form of glucose which, in turn, triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas. Blood glucose and insulin levels after a meal of starch peak within 2-3 hours and do not return to normal for 5 hours. Insulin is a hormone that instructs the horse’s muscles and organs to store glucose. Thus, if there is too much insulin in the blood during training, the horse cannot mobilise glucose reserves to burn them and

feed the muscles during work. It is in fact insulin that ‘prompts’ the muscles to store glucose.  The ability to burn fat as an alternative energy source is also reduced in the presence of insulin; the result of a meal of concentrates too close to work will therefore be a rapid depletion of muscle energy reserves, leading to

sluggishness and fatigue. This concept is particularly important for high-intensity exercise where glucose stores must be utilised very quickly. Another golden rule regarding our friends’ pre-training “snack” is to avoid suddenly inserting new foods. We try to introduce new foods slowly and gradually.

Elena Pecora

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