Little is known about voluntary salt intake in horses. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to
measure the voluntary intake of loose versus block salt over time and evaluate how salt intake affects water consumption.

Hoffman, R. M., J. A. Wilson, D. S. Kronfeld, W. L. Cooper, L.A. Lawrence, D. Sklan and P. A. Harris. 2001. Hydrolyzable carbohydrates in pasture, hay and horse feeds: direct assay and seasonal variation. J. Anim. Sci. 79:500:506. Read the full text.  

Most performance horses train and compete under a variety of stressful conditions
that adversely affect health and performance. Feeding management is of critical
importance to reduce many of these problems.

Pagan, J.D. and R.J. Geor. 2001. Advances in Equine Nutrition II. 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 […]

Feeding practices in Australasia; Huntington PJ. Australian Equine Veterinarian 19(4), 162-168, 2001. This paper describes some of the common horse feeding practices in Australia and New Zealand, particularly where they differ from those used in North America or Europe

To determine the effects of 3 rations (low grain, fat, high grain) on plasma creatine kinase (CK) activity and lactate concentration in Thoroughbred horses with recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis (RER). Rations high in grain and formulated to exceed daily energy requirements may increase episodes of rhabdomyolysis in thoroughbred horses susceptible to RER.

Fike, J. H., C. Teutsh, O. Abague, and L. A. Lawrence. 2000. Assessing the productivity and nutritive value characteristics of newly available warm and cool-season grasses. Project No. 404. Virginia Agriculture Council.

A 6 x 6 Latin square design experiment was conducted to determine glycemic response in horses fed six different feeds at 3 different levels of intake. Six Thoroughbred geldings were fed mixed grass hay and one of six diets: cracked corn, whole oats, sweet feed (45% cracked corn, 45% whole oats, and 10% molasses), sweet feed + 10% corn oil, alfalfa forage, or a low starch, high fermentable fiber mix (25% rice bran, 25% soy hulls, 25% wheat bran, and 25% soaked beet pulp).

There is considerable debate among horsemen about how to feed horses before exercise. Should horses be fed or fasted before work and when should hay be fed relative to grain and/or exercise? Three experiments were conducted to evaluate if feeding hay with and without grain affects glycaemic and haematological responses in Thoroughbred (TB) horses at rest and during a simulated competition exercise test (CET) on a high-speed treadmill.

Previous studies have associated recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis (RER) with a diet high in soluble carbohydrate (CHO). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 3 diets on clinical and metabolic parameters in 5 Thoroughbred horses with RER and 3 healthy Thoroughbreds performing a standardised exercise test (SET). Two diets were formulated to meet energy requirements for the amount of exercise being performed in the form of CHO or fat (21.4 Mcal DE/day).