Nutrition Focus: Q&A Summer Feeding Questions

Lorna Edgar – specialist equine nutritionist

Q&A Summer Feeding Questions

Lorna Edgar answers your nutrition queries

Q: My horses have started the season on a low starch feed, should I be switching to a Polo Mix?

A: Well, if your horses are going well on a low starch mix and they have enough energy, you don’t have to switch to a higher starch feed, such as a Polo Mix or Conditioning Mix. I discourage ‘blanket feeding’, where all horses are fed the same diet, it really must be done on an individual basis – some need more energy, some need more calories, some don’t need any energy, and some don’t need any calories. One feed does not fit all!

Really think how your horses are feeling at the beginning of the chukka and at the end – is their diet supporting their workload? The majority of polo ponies work hard, and I feel it is often underestimated how hard they do work! Ensuring the diet is balanced to support their work is essential in maintaining energy levels, muscle integrity and body condition.

Don’t be afraid to get in touch with a feed company or nutritionist to ensure you are ‘crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s’, it will make a difference!

Q: I have a horse that is beginning to lack stamina as the season progresses, what should I do?

A: Following on from the previous question, stamina is NOT going to be rectified by the addition of oats or a Polo Mix as they are high in starch so provide ‘quick release energy’ which is pretty much accountable only for the first half of the chukka.

For stamina we need to focus on a couple of other things as well… • Is the horse on a balanced diet for the amount of polo it is playing? This is always key to any diet but can make a huge difference to performance. • How much forage is the horse eating?

If it is picking and not wanting to eat much it will affect energy levels as fibre contributes towards stamina. • Is the horse drinking enough? This needs special consideration when travelling a lot and in the warm weather. Once addressing the questions above, stamina can be increased by… • Adding oil into the diet – using an oil supplement that contains antioxidants is ideal, such as Baileys Outshine or

Saracen Equi-Jewel. You can add this to the existing balanced diet using ‘cups’ rather than scoops, for example I would normally suggest using 450g per day and this can be built on if necessary. A

‘glug’ of oil will not contribute to energy levels to increase stamina – but will assist coat shine! Using over 100ml of straight oil, such as soya oil, per day would also then require the addition of antioxidants (in order to help improve utilisation by the horse). • Administering electrolytes (eg. Baileys

Aqua-Aide) within a two hour window

BEFORE playing can help to reduce the onset of fatigue by up to 22.5%! My go to suggestion here is to use half a scoop of chaff with a scoop of water or a sloppy beet pulp to put the electrolytes in, an hour before they play, or as you arrive at polo. • Allowing access to pick at hay/haylage on the way to and from polo in the lorry. Try these small changes, and I am sure you will find your horse has more stamina!

Q: Can I feed electrolytes everyday?

A: You can, but they are not necessary. When the weather is consistently (!) hot then yes, electrolytes every day is ideal, but not when the horse is not sweating – they will excrete what they do not utilise.

It would be an idea to add table salt to the feed every day or provide a salt lick in the feed bowl or in the stable for them to have free access to.

Q: My horse has dropped some top line, should I use a muscle supplement?

A: No, I wouldn’t reach straight for a supplement, you need to see if the diet is balanced first. Start with assessing the quality of the forage – is it soft, coarse, clean, dusty, good quality? Are they eating enough of it?

If they are picking at the forage or the quality is not great, then I would be wanting to pick up the digestible fibre in the diet by adding an alfalfa chaff, freeze dried grass or beet pulp (Fibre-Beet) to the ration to counteract for the deficiencies in the forage. Alternatively, increase the amount of forage you are feeding them, or if they are playing a lot of polo and travelling a lot, ensure forage is available in the lorry to reduce time away from it in the stable/field.

Is the hind gut working effectively – take note of the droppings, are they looking normal? Is the horse tucked up and hollow

Administering electrolytes at the lorry using a large syringe with a lot of water

Photograph by Lorna Flemming & Jo Radford-Smith

Ollie Jones’s gelding JB Rubio looking super during a busy season of polo

Photography courtesy of Lorna Edgar

in the flanks? Perhaps a course of pre/ probiotics would be preferable to assist in aiding fibre digestion in the hind gut. Products such as Protexin Quick Fix, Science Supplements Gut Balancer or Baileys Digest Plus, for example, can all help.

Then I would look at the hard feed – ensuring it is a balanced ration to support the workload, as I have mentioned above. If you are worried about too many calories being provided, then top up with a balancer as this will provide quality protein to aid muscle development.

And, finally I would talk to your physiotherapist or vet to see if there is any reason for muscle atrophy or soreness etc to ensure the horse is using itself correctly to build muscle in the right places.

So many things to think of before spending out on a supplement!

Q: I have seen people feeding alfalfa before they play, is this ok?

A: Oh yes, this is a great practise, and I will always encourage it!

The thought process behind this is that the alfalfa chaff works as a ‘mat’ on the gastric acid produced in the stomach when fed approximately 30 minutes before they play, reducing the sloshing effect of the acid as the horse gallops. The added benefit of the alfalfa is it has a buffering capacity to the gastric acid from its calcium content.

Some people will also take this opportunity to add water to the chaff and add electrolytes to aid hydration and reduce fatigue, as I mentioned earlier.

Q: Is it true I should feed oats to my horses?

A: As I have mentioned earlier, it is not a necessity, and they don’t suit all horses.

Hay at the lorry during a long afternoon of polo – hay removed half an hour before they play What I try to be mindful of is oats are not a complete feed – they are deficient in many minerals and quality protein, and if the energy is not used in their work, they will store it as fat!

The longer I have worked in polo the less need there is for oats with most horses, but traditionally oats are used a lot in polo. I don’t feel they are needed for all horses – again, it comes back to ‘blanket feeding’ rather than feeding the individual.

The mistake that is often made is that oats are overused, the diet becomes unbalanced from the nutritional deficiencies in the oats. So, what needs to be done is the deficiencies need to be counteracted for – adding a balancer to the diet to ensure the horse can actually metabolise the energy from the oats, with an increase in vitamins and minerals, and provide the quality protein that the oats are also deficient in.

I would encourage you to speak to a feed company or nutritionist to ensure the diet is balanced instead of just adding scoops of oats into the feed hoping it will provide more energy, it is not as simple as that, the essential words ‘BALANCED DIET’ need to be considered first!

Q: Do I need to add chaff to the feed?

A: No, you don’t! I have some clients that always use a chaff, some use a beet pulp in the hard feed and some use none, and that is fine, it works for their horses and yard set up. Generally, if the forage is good quality there should be no need to add additional chaff to the feed, unless you have a particularly greedy individual or a horse that is susceptible to choke. It really is a personal preference.

I try to discourage over feeding in a meal and often adding chaff and beet can cause meals to become too large. Focus on the mix/cubes in the feed bowl, and where possible adding a separate feed of beet or alfalfa to increase digestible fibre in the diet where necessary if an induvial is not thriving or not eating enough forage.

If your feed buckets are not too full, you could add half a scoop of chaff or soaked beet, but always bearing in mind the size of the horse’s stomach – as I mentioned in the April article!

Oats don’t suit all horses, so consider alternatives as well