Managing your competion horse's diet during reduced workload

Advice on best horse feed options during reduced workloads

Depending on your individual circumstances, it may mean that you simply need to adjust the amount of hard feed your horse receives, on the other hand some horses may require a lower energy ration.

Maintaining Fitness

During the off season or when people give their horse a holiday, some decide to rest their horses completely whilst others want to keep their horses in work, even if at a slightly lower intensity. A short break from exercise will have minimal impact on overall fitness. However, limited exercise over a longer period will reduce both cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength. This will also mean that a longer period of reconditioning is needed once the horse returns to work. To preserve the strength and suppleness of the musculoskeletal tissues, it is recommended to exercise at a moderate intensity at least three times a week. However, depending on your horse’s current fitness, higher levels of work may be required to maintain cardiovascular fitness.

Adjusting Hard Feed

It is important to always alter the diet to suit energy demands for exercise and avoid a surplus in calories which will ultimately lead to weight gain. If you have to suddenly reduce your horse’s workload, you will need to adjust their calorie intake accordingly. Depending on current diet, it may be possible to simply reduce quantities of the product being fed, according to feeding guidelines. However, if there is a drastic change in exercise intensity (i.e competing to a high level on a weekly basis to suddenly being turned out on a break), calorie requirements will reduce significantly and it may be more suitable to use a nutrient-dense balancer such as Connolly’s RED MILLS PerformaCare Balancer .

Temperament

During periods of reduced exercise, maintaining an even temperament can be challenging, particularly if the horse is already fully fit and conditioned to daily exercise. To avoid excessive excitability, consider switching to a lower starch feed such as our Horse Care Ultra Cubes. This oat-free, ultra-low starch, high fibre cubes have been specifically formulated for horses that do not require high levels of fast-release energy. Horse Care Ultra Cubes also contain a gastric acid buffer, yeast and prebiotics which can be beneficial for stress-induced digestive issues such as gastric ulcers, colic and diarrhoea.

Digestive Health

If your horse will be spending more time in his stable, it’s important that you keep them occupied, and their digestive system healthy by feeding plenty of good quality forage. The horse’s gut is naturally stimulated by movement, so if exercise is reduced and they are spending more time in their stable, the risk of digestive issues (e.g. colic) may increase.

To minimise these problems when possible all changes should be introduced gradually. Providing ad lib forage will help to keep the horse’s gut moving, plus it will reduce the risk of stomach ulcers, which can occur as a result of stress. There are also several ways you can extend eating time and alleviating boredom such as feeding forage in a small-holed haynet and providing a boredom ball.

All Connolly’s RED MILLS feeds are made using advanced cooking techniques to help minimise the risk of gastrointestinal problems, you can read more about our Precision Nutrition here. However, for horses prone to these issues we recommend choosing a feed from our Care Range. These feeds contain a long-lasting natural gastric buffer to support stomach health, as well as yeast and two prebiotics (MOS and FOS) to help maintain a healthy hind gut.