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PERFORMANCE HORSE
Dr Teresa Hollands BSc(Hons), MSc(nutrition) PhD R.Nutr
Senior Nutritionist, Dodson & Horrell Ltd (official supplier of nutrition to The British
Equestrian Team) and Specialist Lecturer, University of Nottingham School of
Veterinary Medicine and Science
We take nutrition very much for granted as
it is difficult to measure the effects of both
short and long term imbalances. However
as our team vet stated ‘it only takes a 1%
improvement in performance to move us from
silver to gold’ and how right he was.
Athletes take their nutrition seriously, their back
up team always includes a nutritionist; and so
should equine athletes (both horse and rider).
Unlike many sports, there are two of you in
the equation; you and your horse, both of
whom need balanced nutrition; it is surprising
how much in common we have with our
horses when it comes to nutrition.
Each of us has a different expectation
of what we want to achieve with our
horses and therefore need different
nutritional support for ourselves and our
horses. We need our horses fit enough
to compete with others of a similar
standard whether at World Class or
local show level. Equine and human
fitness and nutrition are linked; how
many of us know forty to fifty year olds
that are much fitter now than when they
were in their teens, partly as a result
of being more nutritionally savvy
?
15
EQUINE MATTERS
Feeding
for
performance
You:
l
eat breakfast so you remember that
dressage test or the jump off course.
Harvard University showed that students
who ate breakfast had better
concentration compared with students
who rarely ate breakfast.
Your horse:
l
about 80% of sports horses have gastric
ulcers. American scientists measured the
acidity within horses’ stomachs and
found horses fed breakfast two hours
before exercise, had smaller amounts of
damaging acid in the top part of their
stomachs compared to horses fed after
exercise. Acid in the upper stomach
increases the risk of gastric ulcers
reducing performance.
Eat regularly