Introduction

Horse feed, especially those for sports or pleisure, has traditionally been a fairly closed, due in large part to ignorance of the needs of animals. The growing interest in this type of activity has led practitioners to study this issue.
The performance of a horse are conditioned by many factors: genetic, health, and nutritional management. Feeding during the growing period is very important to get the most out of the animal. A good breeding allows proper development of the rack, avoiding deficiencies then condition their suitability for the activities you have designed. At this stage of his life, overfeeding is not recommended because it can lead to overweight animal, not having completed their growth, their impact on skeletal and stress resistance. A moderate restriction is overcome by compensatory growth later stages, but if it is strong, causes growth retardation sometimes irrecoverable.


In the case of players, the feed is also a critical factor. Horses are considered, in general, as animals infertile (it is said that it takes two to obtain a foal mares a year). Although this statement is partly justified by supply and an adequate management of broodstock reproductive rates can be improved, as with all livestock holdings. The most common problems are usually due to deficiency states, but too greasy animals also have fertility problems. It seems important, therefore, keep cattle in good body condition, allowing a variation of live weight at certain points in their production cycle, but should not pass certain limits that later can compromise their production yields.

Digestion of Food

The horse is a herbivore whose digestive system is characterized by a rather bulky stomach and bowel are very developed (Table 1).

The stomach is small (15-18 l capacity) and empties quickly in terms of food consumption. Gastric digestion affects mainly the fiber fraction and nitrogen (predigestion) and is very limited for the rest of the components of the diet (carbohydrates) or negligible (lipids and minerals). The small intestine is very long (16-24 m) and speed of traffic is also high (1 to 2 h). Here are digested sugars and starches, lipids and nitrogen fraction. Enzymatic digestion in the small intestine is more important the higher the level of concentrated feed in the feed. Assumes 30-60% energy and 30 - 80% of total protein absorbed (INRA, 1990). The minerals are also absorbed in this section with the exception of phosphorus, mainly absorbed at the colon. The large intestine is very large (180 l -220) and is usually full. The retention time is also high (24-48 h). The microbial population present in this section, fermented remains undigested in the small intestine and the fiber fraction, producing volatile fatty acids in the case of rich forage rations, may make up 2/3 of the energy absorbed. It is also estimated that there may be some protein synthesis with amino acid uptake (INRA 1990).

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