Feeding for Travelling
By Elizabeth Owens, Equine Nutritionist for Ridley AgriProducts (and sometimes rider)
If you have competition horses, in whatever discipline you enjoy, it is inevitable that you will need to travel them to competitions – either over short distances, or for thousands of kilometres in search of that near perfect performance that will see you in the ribbons.There is much written about the logistics of travelling horses with regard to preference for straight or angle load or whether horses travel better on a truck with company or in a large float on their own. In my experience, horses are individuals and what suits one is not a solution for another, so I will not touch on this subject, rather I wanted to provide what I hope will be helpful advice on how to feed a horse before and during travel – whether that be by truck, float or airplane.
For trips less than 3 hours, performance and comfort of the horse is not greatly influenced by feeding management. There is an argument both for and against feeding a horse while travelling with a hay net.
- On the “for” side, horses are often more settled if they have some hay to chew on during transport. The chewing has the benefit of producing saliva that benefits digestive function and stimulates water intake.
- On the “against” side, hays can carry a lot of dust which compromises air quality and is a major problem if the horse cannot lower his head to clear his airways. In extreme cases, fine particles of lucerne hay (the leaf) can form a bolus and produce choke.
If your horse travels better and is more settled with hay available then make sure you soak the hay for about 20 minutes to reduce the level of dust. This will also have the advantage of increasing moisture intake.
For longer trips, some additional dietary management is recommended. The “ideal” travelling regimen for horses is 4 hours on and 4 hours off. I can hear your gasps of disbelieve and I grant that this is probably not a practical regime for many of you, but you should bear it in mind when you have the pedal to the metal after 8 hours on the road in your quest to get home after a show. The horse(s) in the back are cramped, uncomfortable, in poor air quality and usually unable to get their heads down to their preferred position and clear their airways. The bottom line is that the more times you can get them out to clear their lungs and stretch their legs, the more likely they are to be happy and well at the other end.
How a horse is fed will also influence air quality. Higher protein diets produce more nitrogen that has to be processed by the liver/kidneys and voided as ammonia with the urine. High levels of ammonia are very damaging to lung tissue so it is important to have the horse on a low protein diet prior to transport. If you intend travelling the horse in a confined space (float, truck, aircraft) for more than 8 hours in total then the diet should be adjusted as follows at least 3-4 days prior to travel:
- Reduce protein by sticking to grassy hay (not lucerne), white chaff and lower protein feeds.
- Increase fibre intake to increase water intake and increase the reservoir of water in the horses’ hindgut.
- Reduce the amount of concentrate in the diet. Cut out grain and put the horse on more maintenance style rations.
- Teach the horse to drink flavoured water – either with molasses or other flavours (they love cherry and aniseed) so he is more likely to drink at stops and it will help to disguise the taste of “new” water if you cannot take your own.
Other non-nutritional suggestions would be to travel the horse cooler rather than hotter, i.e. reduce the number of rugs or better still don’t rug at all, and maximize air flow – open vents, open or remove storm doors.
Good luck and happy travels!
Ridley's Barastoc and StableMaster feeds are available from Transtheme Sdn Bhd. Please call (60 3) 7710 6101 or e-mail info@transtheme.com for more information or to make orders.
