Dietary protein in excess of the horses' needs can be converted into energy. Protein rich feeds such as soyabean meal, cottonseed meal and tickbeans are good sources of energy as can be seen from the table.

As protein rich feeds are relatively more expensive than grains, addition of these to the diet in excess of that required to meet the horses' protein requirement, is a very expensive means of increasing the energy intake.

Fats and oils are readily utilised energy sources. Most rations contain 2-6% fat, however, the horse can utilise up to 20% fat in the diet. Fat contains 2.25 times as much energy as an equal weight of carbohydrate or protein. Some research suggests that feeding high levels of fat during training could condition horses to use body fat more efficiently and thus have a sparing effect on muscle glycogen. Although this has yet to be conclusively proved or disproved; in the horse running at high speeds fat or oil can be a beneficial additive for a horse with a small appetite, or one that has a tendency to "tie-up" on a high carbohydrate diet. 340g of corn oil, sunflower oil or safflower oil contains the equivalent energy of 1 kg oats.

Protein

The horse continually uses protein to either build new tissues as in growth and reproduction or to repair worn out tissues.

Protein is the main constituent of the organs and tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments, heart, lungs, spleen, liver, digestive tract, blood vessels, hair, hooves, etc.) and most of the bone matrix, which comprises 20% of the bone, is composed of protein. Protein is required to develop muscling and most body functions require proteins in many different forms. Therefore a continuous and sufficient supply of protein is needed.

The dietary requirements of horses are not only a matter of providing sufficient quantity of protein, the quality of protein is extremely important.

Proteins are made up of approximately 20 amino acids in varying combinations. Amino acids are often described as the building blocks of protein. Animals can only synthesise about half these amino acids and must therefore be supplied with the ones which they cannot make. These are called essential (or indispensable) amino acids, i.e. it is essential that they be supplied in the diet.

As a result of this protein quality is largely determined by the amounts and proportions of essential amino acids making up the protein. If one essential amino acid is not present in sufficient quantities (called a limiting amino acid), then the other amino acids present above that level will be wasted. Therefore a shortage of anyone essential amino acid makes overall protein utilisation less efficient and the horse can become protein deficient.

The Importance of High Quality Protein in the Diet of the Horse

A high quality protein intake is necessary to develop the muscle strength and stamina of the horse.

A horse which lacks good muscle development or one in which it is difficult to hold condition is commonly found to have insufficient high quality protein in its diet. Coat quality may be enhanced by feeding good quality protein in conjunction with a protein supplement such as Pro-Mix.

Cereal grains and average quality hay will not provide enough high quality protein in the diet of the growing and working horse and this particularly applies in high stress situations (see below). It is therefore essential to balance the grain/hay ration with an additional protein source such as soyabean meal, cottonseed meal or tickbeans to the ration to increase the overall percentage and quality of protein in the diet. However, most of these foods are low in at least two essential amino acids, lysine and methionine and possibly others. Therefore, to gain correct levels of amino acids in the diet, it is advisable to add a protein supplement which is fortified with these limiting amino acids. For this reason we have developed and manufactured and Ranvet 500 Plus for horses up to three years of age and Pro-Mix and Power Formula for horses three years and over.

These products will help to provide adequate quantity and quality of protein in the diet of the horse in work so that the horse can utilise the protein present as effectively as possible.

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