PG.36
AQHA VET NEWS
fatigue. Fortunately, research shows that adding fat to diets of
performance horses gives them a more concentrated supply
of energy; enables them to produce and store more muscle
glycogen and ‘spares’ blood glucose. Arena horses especially
perform at their best when on an oil-enriched high energy diet.
Let’s firstly have a look at the advantages of oil for working
horses, and then at the benefits of oil for all horses. Oils
provide around 3 times as much energy as grains – so 330ml
of oil provides the same amount of energy as 1kg of oats –
but without the risk of ‘hot’ behaviour and hind-gut acidosis
(Table 1). In fact, adding oil to the diet provides benefits for
all horses in terms of acidosis, arthritis, behaviour, fertility,
inflammation, immunity, PSSM, temperament and tying up.
TABLE 1.
Amount of feeds that can be replaced with 1 cup (250ml) of oil
Oats
700g
Barley
600g
Corn
600g
Commercial grain mix
630g
Rice bran
450g
Flaxseed
600g
The addition of 500-1000ml of oil to the diets of performance
horses (including endurance, futurity, cutting, racing, eventing)
reduces heat production, weight handicap (from gut fill) and
working heart rates and can delay the onset of fatigue.
Horses fed oil-supplemented diets have increased resting
muscle glycogen concentrations. Oil provides a cool and
steady supply of energy - allowing the horse to preserve blood
glucose levels. The ‘glucose-sparing’ effect of oils delays the
onset of fatigue, so that although horses cannot increase their
maximum effort, they can maintain it for longer.
Approximately 75% of the energy utilized by the muscles is
lost as heat – giving the working horse an efficiency of around
25%. As exercise time increases and heat load rises, a tug-ofwar
for blood flow develops between the skin and muscles.
The horse diverts more and more blood away from the working
muscles and sends it to the skin for sweating/cooling. The tugof-war
for blood flow between skin and muscle decreases if
the total heat load is reduced. In addition, horses exercising
in hot conditions expend up to 20% more energy, so it is even
more critical to select feeds that minimise heat production
and energy wastage. Oils offer significant and unparalleled
advantages here, with one report showing total body heat
production decreased by 14% when horses were fed an oil-
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