HORSE KEEPING
FEEDING RATION BALANCERS Ration balancers are concentrated sources of essential minerals, vitamins and protein designed to balance out a horses’s diet. But how do you know if they will benefit your horse specifically? B Y H E AT H E R M AC I N N I S & K E R I W E I R , E QU I N E N U T R I T I ON C ON SU LTA N T S
WHAT IS A RATION BALANCER?
Ration balancers are designed to “balance” your horse’s diet. Simply put, ration balancers are a concentrated source of protein, vitamins and minerals. This high level of concentrated macro and micro minerals allows optimal nutrition to be met easily for any stage of life, activity level and age. The flexibility of this product is the low inclusion rate that can be fed into the feed bucket all at once into one feeding, or spread out with the feeding schedule. Ration balancers provide a “balanced diet” with a high level of nutrition without having to increase the amount of complete feed to elevate nutrition, which may affect weight and attitude.
CALORIES
Do ration balancers have calories? Not really. They bring vitamins and minerals, which cannot be converted into calories in the same way as carbohydrates for example. They play a completely different metabolic role and are important cofactors and carriers for the metabolic reactions necessary for the proper functioning of the horse. A well-known example is iron, which is a component of the hemoglobin protein involved in the transport of oxygen in the bloodstream. Here, iron (a mineral) plays a facilitating role to transport oxygen through the horse’s body. It is not used as a source of calories. Even if it is essential for breathing, iron will not affect the horse’s excitability. It does play an indirect role in the “energy’’ level 18
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however; a horse that breathes well will be more energetic. This logic applies to the majority of vitamins and minerals. Even though each of them plays a different role, they are indirectly related to the overall “energy” of the horse. When it comes to ration balancers – is more, or less, better? While it is true that a horse with nutritional deficiencies (lacking enough vitamins and minerals to meet his needs) is calmer or apathetic, it is frankly unethical to deliberately deprive an animal to reduce its energy level. Read the feed tag for accurate amounts based on performance level and weight. Providing just one nutrient to a diet, like selenium or vitamin E, will only meet that one requirement. Providing all nutrients will help balance the Ca:Ph (Calcium and Phosphorus) and Zn:Cu (Zinc and Copper) ratios and meet required limiting amino acid levels that have to be added to the diet because the horse cannot create these himself.
INTRODUCTION
Introducing a new supplement can create a behavioural change; therefore, it is recommended to do so gradually. This will have a stabilizing effect and reduce changes in the horse’s behaviour. Supplementary intake should be increased very slowly and, when behavioural change is observed, the amount given should be maintained even if the ideal amount to balance the ration has not yet been reached. The horse will then gradually get used to the new intake of vitamins and minerals. When its behaviour has stabilized, the amount
can again be increased until the desired level is reached. This way, the horse has time to adapt to its new diet and the spurts of excess energy will be limited.
PROTEIN
When to choose a ration balancer with higher protein? Protein is essential to life; it accounts for approximately 80% of the overall structure of the horse, not counting water and body fat. The primary role of protein is to provide the horse with the amino acids necessary for growth and tissue repair. More precisely, amino acids are the building blocks for the horse’s bones, muscles and soft tissue. What should interest the horse owner who is concerned about feeding his animal properly is, therefore, not protein per se, but the amino acids that form the protein. For the digestion of the protein to be used and show results, it must be bioavailable for efficient absorption. A protein molecule consists of various combinations of the 22 amino acids that exist in nature. When an animal ingests protein, the enzymes and acids in its digestive system break up the chain of amino acids that constitute the protein, and each amino acid is absorbed through the wall of the small intestine and into the bloodstream, via the liver. From there, the amino acids travel to the specific sites requiring growth and repair. Among the 22 amino acids that constitute protein, 10 are called essential in the sense that the horse cannot synthesize them; they must therefore come from the diet to meet the horse’s specific needs.
