Getting high-performance athletes to perform at their peak can be a testing process, but a major key to ensuring that they are ready to star relies on a healthy diet.
That is a factor that is readily considered when assessing the stars that have won Olympic gold medals and major team honours such as the Super Bowl. However, it is also a key theme when assessing how to get the very best out of a Champion Thoroughbred.
In fact, it could be argued, that the diet of an equine champion is more important than it is for any other sportsperson. Horses that are aiming to join the list of Breeders’ Cup winners, found here: https://www.twinspires.com/breeders-cup/winners/
But, what is actually included on a thoroughbreds diet, and how many calories must an equine eat to ensure that they have the energy to perform on track?
A healthy diet for a thoroughbred horse is vitally important to getting the very best out of a runner. After all, the sport is all about energy. As well as competing in world-famous races on the track, horses will also need lots of energy to ensure that they can train at their maximum capacity.
Training to their best will ensure that a runner is at their peak when it comes to running their best race on the track. However, feeding a thoroughbred racehorse is now straightforward assignment, as the average runner in training will need 35,000 calories per day.
It shrinks the number required by high-level human athletes in comparison, with Michael Phelps famously needing 12,000 calories per day to perform at his peak. In fact, the average required by thoroughbreds also dwarves the number of calories required by an average horse, which stands at 14,000.
What Do Horses Eat?
While human athletes will look to eat meat to gain muscle and pasta for cardiovascular purposes, the same can’t be done when feeding horses. Instead, equines will need a diet that is suited around slow-releasing energy.
For the most part, horses will have a diet that is high in fatty and glycogen foods. The latter is hugely important, as muscle glycogen is used by runners during races. Therefore, horses will have a diet that largely consists of protein, starch, and fibre.
As well as being fed foods from these groups, horses will also gain the nutritional benefits from eating grass and hay both in the field and at the stables. Grains and oats are also readily fed to horses when they are in their stables.
Unlike humans, horses aren’t able to feed themselves for the most part. Although, food will be left out for equines in their stable to eat freely as they wish. However, monitoring the food that is consumed by a horse is down to the trainer in charge.
Trainers will typically be more concerned if their runner isn’t eating enough, as they will also be able to burn off any extra weight before competing on track. Cherie DeVaux revealed that monitoring how much food a horse does or doesn’t eat is vitally important, as it can always link to an underlying issue that a vet may not have picked up.
While the trainers will typically monitor the food that is consumed, there will also be a night watchman at work to ensure that all runners in stable have adequately eaten during the night.
This is an important factor as the vast majority of yards will complete the first round of training of the horses within their care early in the mornings, and another meal isn’t served until near to midday.
As well as being well fed, horses will also need to ensure that they drink regularly throughout the day. Equines are capable of losing up to eight gallons of water during exercise, meaning that water is always readily available at a yard.
Incredibly, eight gallons of water ranks as almost 10% of a thoroughbreds water reserve. Therefore, mainlining good hydration levels is almost as important for a racehorse as a healthy diet.
Nyquist was regarded as one of the most talented horses of his generation, winning the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, before capturing the Kentucky Derby in the following year.
The runner trainer by Doug O’Neill would land victories in eight of his eleven career starts, accumulating prize money of over $5 million.
Supriyo Khan
Supriyo Khan
Supriyo Khan
Supriyo Khan
Want to add a comment?
