18/02/2022
Friday focus...feeding before exercise!
Ensuring that your horse or pony has something in his or her stomach before you ride or exercise them is so important to keep their gut healthy.
The strong acids in the horses stomach are present whether there is food in the stomach or not. If there is no food in the stomach for the acids to break down, the acids attack the squamous cells in the non-glandular region of the stomach. If the horse is frequently without food, this usually results in the horse developing gastric ulcers; the stomach does not work well when empty! If you add exercise onto this, the acid will just be splashing around in the stomach causing all sorts of problems. Ensuring that your horse eats before you ride will help prevent this.
Whatever you offer should be forage-based and highly digestible. Either offer a some hay or haylage and let them nibble at that while you are getting them ready, and/or feed 1/2-1 Stubbs scoop of dampened chaff. If your horse has dental issues, some soaked grass nuts are ideal! I would still advise feeding something if they are ridden or exercised from the field, so you can be sure there is something in their tummies; this is particularly important if they are on restricted grazing or their grass is short!
It was always promoted to not feed before exercise and to leave about an hour after feeding before riding. This still applies if you are feeding cereals or straights. However, hay, haylage and forage-based feeds are absolutely fine and for all the reasons above, should be fed to protect the stomach from splashing acid.
Your horses stomach works best 1/2-3/4 full, so ensuring it is kept that way will help support and promote a healthy gut environment!