Delaying the onset of fatigue
Maximising athletic capacity
The effects of fitness, work intensity, multi day competitions and travelling can all combine to reduce the athletic capacity of the horse. Therefore achieving superior performance necessitates management and nutrition strategies to delay the onset of fatigue.
Different types of fatigue
Horses working or competing at high exercise intensity, such as racing, tire primarily from the accumulation of lactate (the end product of anaerobic energy production) in the muscles (Reeta Poso 2004), and in extreme effort, from the depletion of muscle glycogen. Horses taking part in less intense but longer duration activities such as endurance tire primarily from glycogen depletion but also from fluid and electrolyte losses (Lindberg 2002).
Using oil as an energy source
Glycogen, stored in the muscles and liver, is the energy substrate of choice for high intensity work and is primarily sourced from dietary starch and sugar. Oil, stored and used as fatty acids is predominantly used during lower work intensities. The fatty acids used by muscles are sourced from dietary oil and from the volatile fatty acids that result from the digestion of fibre.
Horse adapt very well to using the added the oil from their diets, after about 5-12 weeks of a high oil diet , they are increasingly able to use the oil as an energy source during low and moderate intensity exercise.
How you can help
Nutrition strategies to delay the onset of fatigue involve maximising energy source and maintaining fuel to supply the muscles during exercise. Muscle glycogen is depleted if the starch and sugar contents of the diet are below 10% of the horse’s energy intake (Geor, 2004) but diets containing approximately 20% of the energy as oil have been shown to maintain glycogen concentrations.
Maximising the use of dietary fat and fibre, in conjunction with appropriate conditioning, gives metabolic benefits of delaying lactate accumulation, greater energy efficiency and may spare muscle glycogen.
The WINERGY Equilibrium range has been designed to maximise glycogen contents, provide greater energy efficiency and confer the metabolic advantages seen in research of fat and fibre diets.