A comparative study of equine compound feeds for leisure and performance horses

Abstract

A wide variety of equine compound feeds are now available, aimed at simplifying the feeding of horses, by removing the need for detailed nutritional calculations previously necessary with ‘straights’. It is assumed that the majority of feed sales are based on the name of the manufacturer and the branding of the individual product rather than the nutritional content. Research in equine nutrition has accelerated in the last decade and a greater academic understanding of equine nutrition has now been reached (Pagan 1998; Pagan 2001; Lawrence 2001). It appears that an ever-widening gap is being created between academic research and the end consumers, with regard to ration formulation and the nutritional requirements of horses. This gap is mainly being bridged by the compound feed manufacturers who are widely trusted to deliver correctly balanced compound feed. The objective of the present study is to investigate energy levels and sources of energy in compound feeds against peer-reviewed research standard levels (NRC 1989; Lawrence 2001) to ascertain whether feed manufacturers are delivering metabolically efficient and nutritionally balanced sources of energy in compound feeds for horses.