# Feeding the Endurance Horse



## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

So I know there are a variety of diets when it comes to equine athletes, but what do YOU feed your endurance horse? I am currently interning at Global Endurance Training Center and they feed a mash that contains beet pulp, rice bran, vit/min supplement, and Purina Ultium & Omolene 400. This of course varies depending on conditioning or competition days but it has given me a pretty good example of what is fed. I am just curious of what other things people feed their endurance horses and why.


----------



## jillybean19 (Dec 23, 2011)

I'm trying to put weight onto my boy, so my feed has been adjusted accordingly:

Beet pulp
Rice Bran
Wheat midlings
General Livestock feed (grain replacement)
Selenium (with lots of vitamins)
Bone builder (lots of minerals and vitamins)
Mineral Rock (left in his pastrure just in case - he had a tendency for wanting to lick dirt)

Oftentimes at the vet checks here they have the wheat midlings, water, and oat float all mixed together and even add carrots on occasion. The horses seem to really like it, and to get my boy used to it I'll do the same in a separate bucket.


----------



## cowgirl928 (Feb 4, 2012)

Hmm.....I currently feed my girl Nutrena safe choice but was recently told to feed her something with less carbs and more protein so she doesn't get muscle cramps and get tied up. Is this correct?


----------



## EnduranceLover6 (Jul 4, 2012)

Um not necessarily that I'm aware of....adding more protein to their diet makes it harder for them to digest and break down during competition. However high sugars can make them tye-up as well. I was told specific ingredients such as corn and a large amount of oats can make them tye-up so to avoid feeding them. We do feed the sweet feed (Ultium & 400) during the vet checks, however I think its used as a pick-me-up and works because they didn't have the sugars in their system before the race to tye-up on. Someone correct me if I am wrong.


----------



## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

feed during an event is nothing more than a way to get water into them. What they eat on thursday is in there gut on saturday. SO the feeds you are giving them on race day arnt gonna amount to much for a few days. Starting a few days prior you really want to cut back on the protein. Its an innefician energy source and causes more water waste.

Here read all about it from someone way smarter than me, 
Beating the Metabolic Pull: part 1 - Susan Evans Garlinghouse


----------



## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

Dream eats a 12% pelleted complete feed, plus free choice pasture/grass hay. She was on an omega-3 fatty acid supplement for a while after her last lyme flare caused her to drop a bunch of weight, but now that she is back in condition she doesn't get it any more.

At rides, she gets oats and beet pulp and alfalfa hay, as she is one of those horses who prefers to eat someone else's grain at a hold and I have found she eats this combination best (she will barely even nibble on her normal ration during the ride, frustrating as that is for me!).


----------



## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

How many pounds a day does Dream get of the pelleted complete ration? Also, do you have a lot of pasture?


----------



## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

She gets about 4 pounds a day and the 10-acre pasture is usually fairly lush (though with our heat and drought, its not been growing at all the past month or so, thus the hay supplementation).


----------



## clippityclop (Jul 12, 2012)

Mine, when in training, get Strategy Healthy Edge with some corn oil, some Red Cell supplement (depends on the horse), free choice coastal/rye mix and alfalfa topper once a day.

I stop supplements about 8 days before a ride day (don't want to be printed in EN as a rider whose horse tested positive). On ride eve and ride day, I literally feed handfuls only of the Strategy, double the alfalfa and keep them in front of their rye/coastal mix and water at all times. I feed a sloppy beet pulp helping in the morning and at vet checks, and continue the same feeding style for a few days after then I up their Strategy again to a couple pounds here/there with corn oil depending on their weight (trying to keep it steady).

No miracle feeding schedule - just very basic - I only do LD's so ........


----------

