Nutritional management of horses competing in 160 km races.

This research investigated the dietary management and training schedules of endurance horses racing in 160 km events, aimed to identify if there were any notable differences in nutrition and training practices between horses that completed the race and those eliminated due to metabolic issues.

Research Methodology

• A total of 52 horse owners, representing 54 horses, took part in this research. These horses were competitors in two 160 km endurance races.
• Each owner received a pre-race questionnaire to collect data about their horses’ diet and training routines.
• The research compared the collected data sets between the horses that successfully completed the race to those eliminated because of metabolic issues.

Key Findings

• The ages of the horses that completed the race varied around 11.5 years, weighed approximately 429 kg and typically trained by running an average of 61 km per week.
• Most owners (34 out of 52) reported their horses’ feed intake as being “free choice hay or pasture”. After grain intake was accounted for, dry matter (DM) hay intake for these horses was estimated at 3% of the horse’s bodyweight.
• On average, these horses consumed around 12.3 kg of feed daily, consisting of approximately 10 kg of hay and 2.3 kg of grain
• Mostly, horses had unrestricted access to salt, and owners typically fed them with one vitamin or mineral supplement daily.
• From the feed reported, diets were found to contain around 60% total digestible nutrients (TDN), 12% crude protein, 27% crude fiber, 0.72% calcium, and 0.29% phosphorus, as per the Nutritional Research Council’s (NRC) values for nutrient content.
• The maximum caloric intake calculated stood at about 31.9 Mcal per day.
• The ratio of nutrients fed per kilometer of training was 0.14 kg TDN, 0.03 kg crude protein, and 0.06 kg crude fiber.