Sport Horse Nutrition—an Australian Perspective

To perform at Olympic-caliber competitions, horses must consistently maintain a level of athletic performance that strains their muscular, skeletal, and digestive systems. As the consulting nutritionist to the Australian Equestrian Team, I am primarily concerned with the nutritional challenges of our equine athletes. Much of the equine nutritional research and product development effort is directed at the racing industry, and while this information is useful, it is worth remembering that an elite performance horse is much different than a Thoroughbred racehorse. Moreover, each Olympic discipline attracts horses of different types, workloads, training programs, and feeding practices. An extensive evaluation of feeding and work practices of members of Australia’s equestrian team was conducted over a two-year period. The daily workloads, actual body weights, feed intakes, and feed analyses were ascertained for 22 elite horses, consisting of eventers, show jumpers, and dressage horses. Horses were evaluated for five consecutive days. All of the horses studied were stabled at night with limited or no access to pasture during the day. The ultimate goal of this study was to ensure that the performances of Australia’s equine athletes, both within and outside Australia, was not limited by suboptimal nutrition. To attain this goal, it was important to quantify the variation in standard nutritional parameters for each discipline and to understand the “hot buttons” for riders in the different disciplines. This paper summarizes some of the outcomes from that feeding evaluation and provides some insight into current feeding practices of sport horses in Australia.