Soaked Feeds for Summer

Allen & Page pioneered soaked feeds and offer a range of tasty, versatile feeds to suit every horse, whatever their nutritional requirements.

Nutritionist, Joanna Palmer looks at the many benefits of feeding your horse a soaked feed this summer.

Soaked feeds for hydration

Keeping horses hydrated is key to health and performance as water is required for every process in the horse’s body, especially temperature regulation and recovery. A horse’s natural diet of fresh grass has a high moisture content, often around 85%. When compared to haylagewith a moisture content of 60%, hay at just 20% and a typical concentrate feed with 13% moisture, it is easy to see that the water content of many horses’ diets can be significantly less than they require. Although a horse may naturally drink more water to compensate for their drier forage and feed, some horses do not drink as much as they need to maintain peak performance. Feeding a soaked feed is an excellent way of quickly and easily boosting a horse’s water intake.

Soaked feeds for digestive health

Water is essential for gut health and if there is not enough water in the digestive system the horse is at greater risk of developing digestive issues such as choke and impaction colic, where food does not pass normally through the gut. The additional water content of a soaked feed makes it easier to chew, swallow and digest. Using Fast Fibre as a partial hay replacer for veterans with poor teeth or as an additional fibre source for any horse or pony will boost moisture and fibre intakes, supporting a healthy gut environment.

Soaked feeds for performance

Long days spent training, competing and travelling over long distances, often in hot summer temperatures, will increase the risk of a horse becoming dehydrated. This can have serious effects on health and performance. We have all been in situations where we offer water to a thirsty horse, but they show no interest – quite literally ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’! However, offer your horse a bucket of their

For more information on our range of soaked feeds visit: www.allenandpage.com or call our friendly, award-winning nutrition helpline on 01362 822 902 normal soaked feed and they will usually tuck in happily. A soaked feed made ‘soupy’ with more water than feed is an ideal way of getting extra water into your horse to aid rehydration and recovery.

Allen & Page’s extensive range of soaked feeds all contain a balance of essential vitamins and mineral, so when fed at the recommended amount for your horse’s size and workload you can be certain he is receiving a balanced diet. With feeds available from low energy to high energy there is a soaked feed to suit every workload and calorie requirement. As a medium energy soaked feed, Muscle & Focus is ideal for active performance horses, helping to support muscle development and recovery. Higher energy feeds including Calm & Condition and Soothe & Gain are ideal for hard working horses and those that need to gain weight. Soothe & Gain is also ideal for horses prone to Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS). These feeds will not cause heated behaviour as they are high in fibre and oil, which provides stamina giving energy to fuel exercise and help maintain an ideal body condition.

During training and competition always add salt to your horse’s diet to replace losses during exercise. Salt has the additional benefit of stimulating the thirst reflex. For horses sweating every time you ride, add an electrolyte supplement daily to support recovery.

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