This study looked at the effect of feeding diets supplemented with either a predominantly saturated or unsaturated vegetable oil over a prolonged period to exercising horses. Eight Thoroughbred horses were assigned to 2 diet treatments and for 10 months were fed Timothy hay and oats, together with a fortified sweet feed supplemented with either a predominantly unsaturated (Un) or a saturated (S) vegetable oil so that approximately 19% DE (Digestible Energy) came from dietary fat and approximately 12% from either the Un or S source (AC). In conclusion, no apparent adverse effects of feeding a diet supplemented with either an unsaturated or saturated vegetable oil for 6 months at approximately 20% DE after 10 months at approximately 12% DE were identified and there were no apparent disadvantages of feeding a saturated vegetable oil supplemented diet compared with an unsaturated one.

Carbohydrates are an extremely important part of a horse’s diet since about 75% of all plant matter is comprised of carbohydrates.

Lactation places higher nutrient demands on the mare than any other stage of her life.

Pagan, J.D. 1998. Advances in Equine Nutrition. Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK. Advances in Equine Nutrition is a compilation of selected papers from past KER nutrition conferences. These papers cover a broad range of topics and contain a wealth of information related to equine nutrition, veterinary medicine, and exercise physiology. Included is a mixture of […]

Among the nutrients that are important to the performance horse, energy is the dietary factor most affected by exercise. Energy is not a nutrient per se but is, rather, a measure of a feed’s potential to fuel body functions and exercise.

One of the most important measures of a horse feed’s value is its energy content. Energy density determines how much feed must be fed to meet an animal’s energy requirement.

Crandell KM, JD Pagan, PA Harris and SE Duren. 1998. A comparison of grain, vegetable oil and beet pulp as energy sources for the exercised horse. Proc. 5th International Conference on Equine Exercise Physiology. Utsunomiya, Japan.

Pagan, J.D. 1992 Correct mixture of energy sources key in horse diet. Feedstuffs 64:23:11- 12, 22.

Lawrence, L.A., J.D. Pagan, M. Publos, J. Reeves, K. White and G. Gaskins. 1989. Influence of isocaloric high energy carbohydrate and fat diets on growth-related hormone profiles in the yearling horse. In: Proc. 11th Equine Nutr. and Physiol. Soc. Symp. Oklahoma State University. pp. 151-156.

Growth is defined as an anabolic advantage over catabolic processes (Van Sickle, 1985).