by Dr. J Kathleen Young

Much like human athletes, performance horses have special nutritional needs. And with all athletes, it’s important for diets to match activity and athletic level, to reach the highest level of achievement.

“These six tips may help you to supply your horse with adequate energy to support optimal performance,” says Katie Young, Ph.D., equine nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition.

1. Know if it’s anaerobic or aerobic exercise

   Physical activity is broken into two general categories, aerobic and anaerobic, and it can be helpful to understand the science.

   Anaerobic exercise, characterized by short bursts of maximum effort, is primarily fueled by glycogen, a polysaccharide which is composed of sugars and stored in muscle fibers. Soluble carbohydrates from the diet provide the building blocks for glycogen.

   Read more: Six Ways to Feed Performance Horses for Greater Achievement

Dr. Eleanor Kellon, Staff Veterinary Specialist for Uckele Health & Nutrition

Everyone looks forward to the warm weather as the ideal time to ride or work their horse. Most understand the dangers of working the horse under conditions of high heat and humidity. However, the horse can be compromised easily under less than sweltering conditions if you do not know how to correctly protect them.

Horses control their body temperature primarily by sweating. In warmer weather, it becomes crucial to support and maintain proper hydration, whether doing endurance training, events, trail rides, or standing in a field in hot weather.

Hydration isn’t just about water intake or loss

Sweating also causes significant losses of salt. Losing both can lead to devastating consequences. Horses can lose water volume up to 4 gallons per hour, and as much as 4 ounces of salt per hour. The Sodium in salt, which is Sodium Chloride, is absolutely essential for the horse's body to retain normal, healthy levels of water. Regardless of how much water the horse drinks, it will not be able to retain a normal amount of water in the body without adequate Sodium, or salt.

The brain reads Sodium levels in the blood to stimulate the horse to drink when it needs hydration. When water levels drop and Sodium concentration rises, the horse is signaled to drink. However, before any changes in water or Sodium levels in the blood can occur, the body will pull what it needs out of the tissues to maintain blood levels. This can, and does, result in inadequate hydration levels at the tissue level before it shows up in the blood.

Read more: Meeting Increased Summer Hydration Needs