Skip to content
Search Library
thumbnail

The FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018 was a massive show, with more than 800 horses on the venue. As the Official Equine Nutritionist, we facilitated the importation and local sourcing of feeds and forages, as well as some types of bedding, for all competing horses. Once feeds arrive on the venue, we keep them securely stored and maintain inventory, while also handling the ordering and delivery process.

This gives us a unique view of the quantity and types of feeds used by elite performance horses from around the world. We shipped three containers of feed from Europe for teams that pre-ordered their selections from participating manufacturers. Of these, we’ve delivered 1180 bags so far.

We also distributed 120 bags of finished feed from select American manufacturers. These were available for purchase on the venue, although most U.S.-based riders simply packed their own.

For grains and other bagged products, we delivered:

  • 20 bags of rolled oats
  • 8 bags of steam-crimped oats
  • 24 bags of whole oats
  • 595 lb of sugar beet pulp shreds
  • Over 650 lb of wheat bran
  • Barley, flax seed, and cracked corn were also available, although not as widely used.

Horse managers had several hay options, including first- and second-cutting timothy, alfalfa, and orchardgrass. We’ve delivered nearly 3,700 bales of hay. Timothy was by far the most popular, and second cutting outsold first cutting by about 400 bales. We also hefted 180 bales of alfalfa. As these weighed in at 110 lb each, that’s 19,800 lb of alfalfa! Orchardgrass wasn’t the most popular choice, but was still selected 214 times.

“It’s always really interesting to see the differences in the feeds and forages ordered by the different disciplines,” said Kathleen Crandell, a Ph.D. nutritionist with Kentucky Equine Research who worked on the venue for the majority of the competition. “For example, most of the reiners use alfalfa as their sole source of forage. Other disciplines might use some alfalfa to blend with the grass hay, but never solely alfalfa. Vaulters and para dressage tend to avoid alfalfa like the plague because they think it will make their horses too hot. Endurance horses only get alfalfa the day of the race and preferred the grass hays the rest of the time. The dressage riders were more interested in first cutting timothy (more mature, stemmier, and lower protein), while the jumpers preferred the second cutting (which was leafier and greener, with a higher nutritional quality). Driving ordered massive amounts of timothy as opposed to either orchardgrass or alfalfa.”

Many teams prepared their horses for Tryon’s heat and humidity by providing electrolytes. We handled 79 orders for powder electrolytes, as well as 263 electrolytes pastes and 89 salt blocks.

Finally, treats are always popular at these events. Whether a reward for good behavior or a way to encourage a picky eater to tuck in, teams used 8,785 lb of apples and 19,700 lb of carrots for a running total of 14.2 tons of treats.

WEG 2018 cart delivery

A fully loaded delivery run!

The event isn’t over from our perspective—we’re still handling orders for the horses remaining on the venue. But these stats show just how big a job it is to feed the world!

X

Subscribe to Equinews and get the latest equine nutrition and health news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for free now!