Feeding Energy to Your Horse
By Shannon Lininger, Equine Product Marketing Manager, Kent Feeds
To many horse owners, the word “energy” can have a negative perception. Often, we equate energy with hyper-ness or “hot.” Energy is simply fuel for the body. After water, energy is the second most important nutrient. Of the feed that the horse consumes, 80-90% of it is used to meet the energy requirement. Generally, a horse will only eat what is needed to meet its energy requirement. A horse’s energy requirement will vary by animal, but generally speaking, body weight, breed, age, type, amount of activity, condition of the animal, and environmental conditions all play a role in energy requirement. The lack of energy can cause stunted growth in foals, poor body condition, and fatigue in mature maintenance and performance horses.
Energy does not have a measurable mass, so it is measured by the amount of heat produced when it is used as fuel. The heat released is measured in calories. With horses, it is measured in kilocalories or megacalories. Gross energy is the heat produced from the combustion of food. Digestible energy is gross energy minus the energy lost in feces. Digestible energy is primarily what we refer to when we talk about energy.
Unlike human foods, calorie levels are not shown on a horse feed tag. However, by understanding where energy comes from, you can often determine if you have a higher or lower calorie horse feed. Energy comes from carbohydrates, fats, and protein. For the horse, the primary source of energy is carbohydrates, followed by fat. When it comes to energy, protein plays a rather small role in an equine diet. Carbohydrates can be broken down further into starch and fiber.
A fibrous carbohydrate is not as energy dense as a nonfibrous (starch) carbohydrate, or as dense as fat. However, be aware of the new diets that are utilizing highly digestible fiber sources like beet pulp, dehydrated alfalfa meal, and soybean hulls. Highly digestible fiber sources provide higher levels of energy than typical fiber sources. New research is proving that highly digestible fiber diets are a safer calorie alternative to high-starch diets.
Fat contains about twice the amount of energy as carbohydrates. Typically, a horse feed without added fat will run around 3% crude fat. A feed with added fat will run anywhere from 4% to 13% crude fat. Typically, the higher the fat levels, the higher the calories. There is some concern that fat levels higher than 15% may decrease muscle glycogen storage due to the fat replacing dietary starches. Glycogen is a form of glucose stored in the muscle tissue and is a great energy source, particularly for performance horses.
It is important to remember that the protein percent has very little influence on whether the feed is a higher energy or lower energy. To determine if you have a higher or lower calorie horse feed, look at the feed tag’s guarantee on crude fiber and crude fat. One is not necessarily better than the other as long as they are equally balanced and fortified. When choosing a feed, look at your horse’s body condition and activity levels. If he/she is thin or performing hard work, you will more likely need a higher calorie feed. Higher calorie feeds are higher in fat and lower in fiber, unless highly digestible fiber sources are used. If the fiber level is above 10%, look at the ingredient listing to see if beet pulp, dehydrated alfalfa, or soy hulls are in the listing. These products contain more calories than other fiber sources, so more than likely this feed is a higher calorie feed. If your horse is primarily a pleasure horse or is an “easy keeper,” you may need a lower calorie feed that is lower in fat and higher in fiber.
Horses in the wild are natural grazers; spending two-thirds of their time eating. Today’s horse rarely spends most of their day eating. They are often stalled, dry-lotted, or in smaller pastures. Thus, today’s horses eat very differently than their ancestors. Often the domesticated horse is fed only two times a day. Our domestication of the horse has led to various problems, such as colic, founder, gastric ulcers, developmental orthopedic disease, and “tying up.” Because enlightened horse owners are seeking answers to these conditions, the equine feed industry has looked into the horse’s nutritional requirements and nutritional health-related issues in much greater depth. The result of current research on energy is trending horse diets toward a safer grain that contains higher fiber, higher fat, and controlled starch levels.