Researchers ar the Department of Animal Nutrition and Management of Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden have studied the benefits of a forage-only diet for young horses in training.
Young horse energized by forage diet
The results of a Swedish study show that a high energy forage-only diet alters the metabolic response to exercise and appears to have a positive rather than a negative effect on performance traits.
Since most athletic horses are fed a high starch diet, the researchers replaced starch concentrates with high-energy forage know to alieviate health problems. The diet resulted in a shift in major substrates for muscle energy supply from glucose to short-chain fatty acids because of more hindgut fermentation of the fiber in forage.
This study compared metabolic response with exercise and lactate threshold in horses fed a forage-only diet and a more traditional high starch, low-energy forage diet.
The results showed that a high energy forage-only diet alters the metabolic response to exercise and, with the exception of lowered glycogen stores, appears to have a positive rather than a negative effect on performance traits.