Feeding the Endurance Horse

"Whats with all the buckets?"

So here we have my vet gate set up, I know this might look a bit crazy if you don't do endurance, but I promise it's totally normal! When doing bigger distances (anything over 46km) horses have one (or more) vet gate(s). Horses get vetted after each loop, and then start their hold of 30 or 40 minutes. During this time, horses need to eat and drink, while the rider and crew check them over, clean any sweat marks, and get things ready for the next loop. When Oakley did his last vet gate, I found he was easily distracted, and more focused on the atmosphere than eating and drinking. He's been a bit hit and miss when I've practiced this at home, sometimes he eats and drinks really well, and other times he's just wanting to get back out.

At Endurance, it's important we can get our horses to eat and drink whenever they have the opportunity.

Using soaked feeds is a great way of covering both bases, and really useful if you have a horse who doesn't drink much, as you can just add extra water to the feed.

Maintaining hydration and good gut motility is important, especially when at a ride. Not only for obvious health reasons, but as hydration and gut motility are part of the vetting. So you could fail the vetting if your horse isn't well hydrated, or has quiet or absent gut sounds.

When horses are working hard, their body will actually draw water from the guts, and this, combined with the blood flow being directed to the muscles, can cause the gut to work less efficiently.

Ensuring there's a good amount of food and water going through the gut is important for maintaining gut health, and preventing the risks of gastric or hind gut ulcers.

After speaking to Sarah from Allen & Page at our last weigh day, we decided to add in some other options for Oakley during the hold.

We chose to add in Veteran Vitality and L Mix. Both these Feeds are really palatable, and great for fussy feeders (I haven't personally tasted them, but they both smell amazing!) So 3 weeks prior to the ride, I started adding a tiny handful of the Veteran Vitality and L Mix.

I introduced these feeds one at a time, and gradually increased the amount to about 1/4 scoop per day of each, so Oakley could get used to these new feeds before ride day.

On ride day I offered these feeds separately (hence all the buckets!). This way they all seemed like brand new feeds to Oakley!

I'm really glad we did this, and really glad Sarah from Allen & Page recommended these particular feeds. Once in the vet hold, Oakley tucked straight into the L Mix first, then while he was waiting for me to top that back up, he went straight for the Veteran Vitality! He ate the entire way through the hold, mainly these two feeds, but he also ate some Soothe & Gain and a bit of Fast Fibre.

I was really pleased with this, I felt so happy at the end of the hold, being able to get back on, knowing Oakley had eaten plenty, and taken on plenty of water through the soaked feeds. After our second loop, and final vetting, Oakley tucked back into his buffet selection!

I'm feeling really happy about how well he ate at this ride, and this gave me confidence heading into our first 60km graded endurance ride (GER) at King's Forest where we came 6th in the Eastern region!

Between now and our next ride I will be continuing to add Veteran Vitality and L Mix into his feed, just in small amounts. I won't be offering him either of these feeds on their own, I'll be saving that for the vet gates, so he always thinks they are new and exciting!

If you're thinking of adding in a different feed for vet gates, or something else, then make sure you introduce the feed slowly and in plenty of time before the event, you don't want to be adding a new feed straight before an event.

Huge thank you to Sarah from Allen & Page for her recommendations, I've felt very supported throughout.