Water, Concentrate, and Hay Intake in Thoroughbred Racehorses
Joe D. Pagan, Ashlee Hauss, Alyx Swanhall, Emma Ford, Erica Rugg, Aline Bouquet, and Abby Pritchard
Kentucky Equine Research, Versailles, Kentucky, USA
Water, hay, and feed intake was measured in 6 Thoroughbred racehorses (age 3.3 ± 0.5 y) (BW 468 ± 14.1 kg) for 56 d at a training center in Lexington, Kentucky, during July and August 2016. Horses were kept in stalls in a typical race-training environment and offered free-choice timothy hay. A concentrate formulated for racehorses was fed in 3 meals/d. Each morning, hay was weighed prior to feeding and placed in a ground feeder. After 24h, the remaining hay in the feeder was removed and weighed to determine consumption. Water intake was measured three times per day. Racehorses were typically ridden 6 days a week and hand-walked once a week for 15 minutes. Training consisted of either galloping, jogging, or 600-1000 m breezes. Horses galloped 1600-2400 m an average of 2.7 times per week. Exercise sessions averaged 20 minutes. After an exercise bout, racehorses typically hand-walked for 20 minutes and hand-grazed for 15 minutes. During the study, the horses either raced or breezed weekly except for the week after a race when the horses usually only walked and jogged. Horses raced a total of 11 times during the study. Because of logistics associated with racing, hay and water intake was not measured on race days. All horses received furosemide before racing. Water intake averaged 30.3 l/d and was higher the day after racing and on gallop days than when the horses were hand-walked. There was a positive relationship between average daily temperature, which ranged from 21-28o C, and water intake. Water intake increased 4-5% for each 1o C increase in temperature. Free-choice hay intake averaged 4.4 kg/d and was unaffected by work type, temperature, or water intake. Hay intake averaged 1% BW, which was lower than expected, but was similar to intakes reported for racehorses in Australia. Concentrate intake equaled 7.7 ± 0.6 kg/d. Horses maintained body weight throughout the study. Digestible energy intakes averaged 31.5 ± 0.9 Mcal/d, which is in agreement with 2007 NRC recommendations for racehorses.
Daily hay and water intake in racehorses by work type.
| Work type | ||||||
| breeze | gallop | jog | post-race | walk | all types | |
| water intake (l/d) | 30.6 ± 1.3b | 30.9 ± 0.4b | 30.5 ± 0.3ab | 33.4 ± 1.3bc | 28.6 ± 0.6a | 30.3 ± 0.3 |
| hay intake (kg/d) | 4.9 ± 0.4a | 4.3 ± 0.1a | 4.6 ± 0.3a | 4.8 ± 0.7a | 4.3 ± 0.2a | 4.4 ± 0.1 |
| a,b Values within a row with different superscripts are different (p<0.05) | ||||||