Nutrition Q&As
Q: Is coconut oil safe for horses?
A: Coconut oil has been gaining popularity in human nutrition for some time. The main benefits of coconut oil are that it’s high in antioxidants and is very palatable, with reports of even the fussiest eater enjoying it. It hasn’t been widely used in animal feeds, because the processing meant that the end product would quickly go off. However, it is a good source of fats, and is particularly high in medium-chain triglycerides, which are a form of saturated fat. These fats are often thought to be beneficial, especially when compared to long-chain saturated fats, like those found in animal fats like butter. Coconut oil is therefore safe to feed horses, but it is very high in calories, so should only be used in small amounts. Remember that with the addition of any oil to your horse’s feed, you must make sure that antioxidants (especially vitamin E) are at high enough levels to balance out the increased requirement from the metabolism of the oils. NOTE: If you are considering feeding coconut oil, it is worth speaking to your equine nutritionist first.
Q: Why is linseed oil the new thing to feed?
A: Oils have been available on the equine market for years now, yet there is still some confusion over which oil to use.
While there is technically no ‘bad’ oil, there may be some that are better options for your horse than others. The reason for this is the different omega content and profiles of the oils.
Horses cannot make omega-3 and omega-6 for themselves, and thus these vital nutrients need to be provided in the diet.
Omega-6 is common in concentrate feeds, and omega-3 is found in grass and hay.
Therefore, modern diets are generally higher in omega-6 and it is for this reason that omega-3 oils have been suggested as a supplement for horses.
Linseed oil has the highest level of omega-3 and lowest omega-6 compared to other oils, and thus is often seen as the best option for omega-3 supplementation.
Although more research needs to be done in horses specifically, some of the benefits of using omega-3 oils in general include:
- Help for inflammatory skin conditions
- Reduction of inflammation from injury or infectious agents (bacteria, viruses and fungi)
- Useful for respiratory issues
- Ideal source of energy for conditions such as laminitis, ulcers, colic and tying up
- Useful energy source for hot horses (although this effect is seen with any oil)
Linseed oil also has these advantages over other omega-3 oils:
- Highly palatable
- Provides some vitamin E (which is needed when using larger amounts of oil)
- Well priced and easily available
Q: How can I tell if my horse’s hay has gone off?
A: The consequences for your horse’s gastrointestinal and respiratory health can be severe if forage quality, especially hygiene, is poor. Changes in forage have a much bigger impact on gastrointestinal health than that of concentrate feeds. In particular, the impact of forage on the microflora of the hindgut can be huge. It is important to know how much forage you have left at any given time, so that when that is running low, you can gradually introduce the new forage over the course of at least three weeks.
In South Africa, we unfortunately don’t readily have access to a forage testing laboratory, so visual inspection normally has to be relied upon when assessing hay. On visual inspection, a good batch of hay will look green to light brown in colour, with clean stems and leaves. It will smell fresh and like hay! Generally, feeding hay that is about a year old is ideal, but if good hay is stored correctly, it can remain good for years. The nutritional value of the hay will deteriorate with time, but as long as the horse has the correct balance of vitamins, minerals and nutrients and is maintaining a healthy weight, this is not a major concern.
Bad-quality hay varies from brown to sun-bleached to obviously mouldy. Mouldy hay tends to look dusty, have a musty smell and may even have dark or white areas of mould spores. You should never feed hay from a mouldy bale, as fungal and mould spores can spread further into the hay than may be obvious to the naked eye.
Q: When should I give my horse electrolytes?
Electrolytes are common minerals that combine together to form salts when in a solid state. However, when dissolved in water they break down into their component elements, which are referred to as ions because they carry either a positive or negative charge. The positive ions are calcium, potassium, sodium and magnesium, and the negative ions are chloride, bicarbonate and phosphate. The fact that these elements carry a charge enables them to conduct an electric current, and this therefore allows them to play a role in many of the electrochemical processes that sustain life.
Electrolytes play a key role in two major functions of the body:
- The electrical charge of the ions carries signals across cell membranes and along nerve and muscle cells. This powers functions ranging from muscle contraction to digestion.
- The electrolytes also play a key role in moving fluids in and out of cells, nutrient absorption and regulation of the body’s total fluid balance.
When a horse’s electrolyte levels are low or out of balance these physiological processes get disrupted and cellular functions that are vital for life slow down.
The failure of these cellular functions, coupled with the depleted blood volume and pressure, can lead to multi-organ failure and therefore prove fatal for a horse.
Horses get sufficient electrolytes from their normal food. Provided your horse has access to forage, his normal electrolyte needs should be met.
The issue comes when your horse loses electrolytes, as he will then need to replace them in order to keep his body working optimally. The main way in which horses lose electrolytes is through sweating.
Sweating
Horses need the ability to sweat. As your horse works, his muscles produce energy from glucose and oxygen. This metabolic activity produces heat, and as horses need keep a steady body temperature they must lose the excess heat. In mild exercise the heat will simply radiate out from the skin into the environment from the capillaries (blood vessels) at the surface of the skin. However, if the exercise becomes more intense, the electrolytes will trigger the sweat glands to release fluid (sweat) onto the skin. The presence of fluid on the skin increases the speed of the cooling process, as the sweat evaporates taking heat with it.
However, the issue with this is that equine sweat contains high levels of electrolytes and when the horse sweats these electrolytes are lost and must be replenished. If a horse loses too much sweat, and thus large quantities of electrolytes, they can end up in the state of imbalance or depletion mentioned above.
The good news is, however, that concentrate feeds and forage are high in electrolytes, so for the normal horse doing a normal level of work, the horse can replenish his levels of electrolytes easily – simply by consuming his normal diet.
The only electrolytes that are unfortunately not found in high levels in most feeds and forage are sodium and chloride, which combined together form common salt. It is thus advised that on top of your horse’s normal rations, you provide a salt lick block in the stable for him to sample as he needs.
When to give electrolytes
Unfortunately there is no formula for when exactly electrolytes must be given – it all comes down to your judgement. It must be noted, however, that most horses need to be sweating copious quantities continuously for well over an hour to really have any need for any kind of top-up of electrolytes. If horses are only sweating for a short period, regardless of how hot it is, the chance of them actually needing electrolytes is very slim.
However, a lot of top riders argue that high levels of electrolytes are actually performance enhancing for their horse when in competition. It is postulated that electrolytes allow horses to rebound from the hard work of a show quicker and also to enhance the rebuilding phase in the muscles that occurs after exercise. It should be noted, however, that these studies have looked at high-level performance horses who are working at maximal levels of exertion for prolonged periods.
Fundamentally, however, if your horse is alert, active and eating and drinking he is probably not in desperate need of electrolytes and can cope without a top-up.
NOTE: It is worth bearing in mind that it doesn’t actually matter what the cause of the sweating is – any sweating loses electrolytes. Therefore if your horse gets out of the horsebox at a show after a two hour drive and is drenched in sweat, he would certainly benefit from an opportunity to have a drink of water with some forage and ideally a salt block before he competed. If this is simply not practical, a top-up of electrolytes in this scenario is not a bad idea. Similarly, if your horse sweats in the paddock and sweats for hours he will definitely need to be fed as soon as he gets in to up his electrolytes, and if you had any concerns about him you could give him some electrolytes as a top-up.
Q: Can horses eat meat if they have to?
A: Horses are herbivores, but they can eat meat if they absolutely have to. There have been historical instances in which horses were fed meat diets, for example during the early expeditions to Antarctica, when horses were fed high-calorie fish meal as part of their diet to sustain them during the long trips. However, given a choice, horses won’t eat meat, and as horses are herbivores, their digestive systems aren’t set up for digesting meat. So, in the long run, eating meat is bad for them.
Q: What can I feed my horse to make his coat shiny?
A: Coat condition is a marker of your horse’s health, so before changing the diet, you should evaluate your horse’s overall health. You should check for worms with a faecal egg count, make sure his teeth are in good shape and assess his general health status. These are all things that must be addressed prior to changing his diet.
In terms of improving the coat using nutrition, the first thing you need to check is that you are feeding enough forage. Forage is the foundation of a healthy diet, as it promotes digestive health in the horse. Without good digestive health, a change in diet will have limited impact. Ideally, forage should be provided ad lib, but your horse should never be receiving less than 15g (dry matter) per kilogram of his body weight.
Next up, you need to look at the balance of your horse’s diet. This is likely to involve the assistance of an equine nutritionist, as some of these calculations can be complex. Nutrient deficiencies can affect coat condition, so providing a well-balanced diet is key to not only a healthy horse on the inside, but also a healthy coat on the outside.
Once you have established that there are no other health concerns, that you are feeding sufficient forage and that your horse’s diet is balanced, you can consider looking at the following factors to try and improve the shine further:
- Vitamin and mineral levels Vitamin E deficiency or vitamin A excess or deficiency can result in a long, scruffy, dull-looking coat. Similarly, inadequate amounts of trace minerals such as zinc, copper and selenium can also influence coat quality, colour, growth and shedding. If you are concerned about vitamin or mineral levels, ask your nutritionist to calculate the quantities your horse is currently getting, and to recommend how to achieve optimal levels going forwards.
- Protein Good-quality sources of protein, particularly sulphur-containing amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) such as methionine, are very important in hair production and growth. You can find high levels of protein in a variety of feeds and supplements on the market.
- Oil A horse’s diet typically contains 2-3% oil, so feeding additional linseed, rapeseed or corn oil can help to provide an extra source of essential fatty acids for that ultimate coat sheen. It is also important to note that if you are feeding extra oil, you should check with your equine nutritionist about adding vitamin E as well. Vitamin E is required for the metabolism of oil, so if there are insufficient quantities, the oil will have no effect on your horse’s coat.
- Balancer On a practical note, the easiest way to ensure your horse is getting a balanced diet is to feed a good-quality balancer at the recommended level for your horse’s size and workload. Even if your horse doesn’t require hard feed to maintain his condition, it is still recommended that you use a balancer, in addition to his normal forage, to meet his daily requirements.
And finally, while good nutrition can certainly help to give your horse that show shine, you won’t get very far if you don’t put some work in with a body brush! Brushing your horse regularly keeps his coat clean and stimulates the blood flow to the follicles, enhancing the delivery of nutrients to the hair to produce the shine you desire!
Q: How do I feed my horse to build muscle for eventing?
A: It goes without saying that building muscle requires correct work, so nutrition is not going to be the only piece of the puzzle. Eventing is also a multi-discipline sport, so your horse is going to need to cross-train to really start developing the muscles he needs. From a purely nutritional perspective, however, the main ingredient for building muscle is protein. Horses obtain protein from various sources in their diet, including grass, forage and concentrate feed.
Protein is made up of amino acids. Some amino acids can be manufactured by the body, but others must be provided in the diet. These amino acids that cannot be manufactured by the horse are called essential amino acids. Of these essential amino acids, lysine is particularly important, as it is a ‘limiting’ amino acid. This means that if your horse does not have sufficient lysine, protein synthesis and subsequent muscle development is limited.
Grazing and forage can help to meet most of your horse’s protein requirements, and some grasses, like lucerne, are particularly good sources of protein. However, feeding a balancer or supplement on top of this can help to ensure that your horse has sufficient essential amino acids, particularly lysine, available in his diet. To understand exactly what protein your horse is already getting, and to see where deficiencies may lie, you should chat to your equine nutritionist. They will be best placed to help you in establishing whether a deficiency exists.
Note: It is important, when trying to build muscle in your horse, that you make sure he is being provided with sufficient energy for the work he is doing. Adding protein, or specific amino acids, will not help if your horse is burning more calories than he is getting, as muscle development is a secondary priority for the body. First and foremost, the body will use calories to fuel exercise, so if there are insufficient calories available, muscle development will not occur. To assess if your horse is getting enough calories you should look at his body condition score – this will tell you if he is in poor condition, good condition or overweight.
Q: Why is beet pulp good for horses?
A: Beet pulp is a great feed for horses. It is an energy-rich source of digestible fibre that helps to promote and maintain a healthy microbial hindgut population, keeping the digestive system healthy.
Beet pulp is a by-product from the sugar beet industry. Sugar beets are grown and harvested to make sucrose and sugar, and beet pulp is the material left over once the sugar has been removed. Beet pulp, therefore, has the advantage over most other feeds of being low in sugar, which means that, provided extra sugar has not been added, it is safe to feed to horses who require a low-sugar diet. In addition, beet pulp is also considered a prebiotic, meaning that it is beneficial to the microbes in the horse’s hindgut. A well-functioning, healthy microbiome contributes to overall horse health.
Another advantage of beet pulp is that it can help underweight horses gain weight, as it is quite energy-dense. This is because, after fermentation in the hindgut, the beet pulp releases volatile fatty acids as a by-product. These volatile fatty acids are then absorbed and turned into energy. This energy does not cause a spike in glucose or the corresponding spike in insulin, and is released slowly. Therefore it is unlikely to make a horse ‘hot’ in the process of putting on weight.
Despite these benefits, however, beet pulp should never be the sole fibre source in the diet. Beet pulp is low in protein, does not contain many vitamins and is low in other minerals (apart from calcium). This means that beet pulp alone does not provide sufficient nutrition. However, it can be a great addition to the diet, and provided instructions are followed regarding soaking and use of the product, it is a safe feed.
