Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Nutritional Boosters

“Forage … really is the key to getting weight on and keeping it there.” However, here are some added nutritional tips that have kept the Thoroughbreds at Kivu Sport Horses looking their best.

Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on Thoroughbred nutrition.

Most days, I’m pretty certain my horses eat better than I do. At least, that was definitely the case before my partner moved up and took over my kitchen. Thankfully, the man can cook. That said, having a barn full of Thoroughbreds means we have to have equine nutrition pretty dialed in. It doesn’t mean it’s perfect, but there’s a pretty good base to launch from.

Back when I first started with this, all I knew to do was to throw grain at my race-fit horses and hope that they would soon be able to cover their ribs with fat. When I was still boarding Juice (Pulpituity), he ate three full scoops of grain twice a day. I think that came out to around 15-20 pounds of grain daily … in two servings. That plus some forage did get some weight on him, but it wasn’t until I opened my own facility and took over their nutritional care (and called in a Hail Mary with a nutritionist) that I started to be able to support healthy weight gain without all the compounded feed. A few months later and Juice looked like a new horse.

Juice (Pulpituity) felt and looked great by the time he clicked around the courses at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Makeover in 2019. Photo by Kassie Colson.

I have a couple articles out there about feeding and getting/keeping weight on the hard keepers. This article will provide a quick review there and then head into the things that I use to boost their nutrition.

When you go from just training horses to providing all of their care, you end up learning a lot. Fast. One of the first things I learned was that I didn’t know sh*t about nutrition. I might have ridden all the hard horses from the time I could balance well enough to swing a leg over (four), but I didn’t know anything about caring for them. And I had a lot of learning to do opening up a farm with an ever-increasing number of recently off-track Thoroughbreds in it. At some point when I was running through compounded grain like water, I called the nutritionist and asked for help.

I’m not sponsored by Madbarn, but I send a ton of folks their way. They provide free nutritional analysis and will run the numbers on everything you are feeding from your grain, supplements, hay, grass, etc. The rep at the time described the head of the company as a horse nutrition “Sheldon from Big Bang Theory” who will then crunch the numbers and let you know where your plan could use revision. In my case, I was feeding some crazy amount of protein but lacking in quality forage and a few other nutrients.

Emmett (Oboy) came in during the process of gaining weight after a rough track career. He is thriving on our feed program and is bright, shiny and full of personality (I need new photos after a month here to show where he’s gotten…). Photo by Lily Drew.

With their help, I cut my grain to a third, added additional forage — soaked beet pulp (1-2 quarts) and soaked alfalfa cubes (2-3 quarts) — to the meals and yes, purchased one of their products, Omneity (200g), that helps support whole horse health, then added loose salt (20g), ground flax (200g) and three quarts of topper grain twice daily. It took about two weeks, but my horses went from OK looking to far better, fatter, shinier, and on about half the budget I was on before. Thus, this mix of ingredients became the base of my feed program.

Let me break some of that down:

Salt: this goes without saying that it is important for horse health. Sure putting blocks in fields and stalls is helpful, but it also works well to feed it directly. To state the “no sh*t Sherlock”-ness of salt, it promotes thirst, thereby helping support healthy drinking and thus combats dehydration and cuts down on instances of colic. Yes, yes, it of course also helps horses meet their sodium and chloride needs. Great.

Ground Flax: Ground flaxseed is a relatively inexpensive way to get omega-3 fatty acids (as well as additional fiber and protein) into your feed. The flax then helps on a number of levels: it can improve skin and coat quality, reduce inflammation, boost the immune system, support healthy weight gain and a host of other fun outcomes. Frequently equine diets are low in these omega fatty acids and flax is an easy way to get them on board. Add to that that anything that reduces inflammation is good — especially in off-track Thoroughbreds who often suffer from osteoarthritis and its accompanying inflammation in any number of joints.

This dude’s condition speaks for itself. Photo of Crash (One Big Dude) by Lily Drew.

Omneity: This is basically a multivitamin for your horse. According to Madbarn, it is “an all-in-one pelleted (or premixed powder) equine vitamin and mineral supplement.” Basically tossing this or a similar product (Vermont Minerals and Platinum Performance) in their feed once or twice daily (depending on recommended volume) helps ensure that they’re not going to go lacking on various nutritional needs regardless of what the grass, fed forage, and grain provide. I have found it super helpful to keep hooves healthy and strong, coats in a good shine and horses overall in pretty solid health.

Indy (Star Player) is back in the game now both with his nutrition and his joints. Photo by Lily Drew.

Everyone at my barn gets the above salt, flax, and Omneity with their soaked forage — beet pulp and alfalfa — as well as one scoop (or three quarts) senior grain, give or take depending on weight and body score. Senior grain is a whole other discussion in and of itself, but yes these are young horses and the grain provides high quality fat, calories, and protein in an easy to break-down formula, making it simple for them to process and get all the calories and benefits.

They also get as much hay as they can eat. When there’s no-to-minimal grass, I have Timothy round bales in the fields and a grass hay in their stalls’ nets. Each horse gets flakes of alfalfa as well. The thinner they are, the more they get, but everyone eats it both soaked and from a bale. Forage — much to my lack of knowledge when I started — really is the key to getting weight on and keeping it there. Ideally, when I go to feed in the AM, the nets still have hay in them and the horses never were without a snack.

Indy showing off how lovely and chunky he has become. Photo by Lily Drew.

That set up usually works for most of the horses that come through. Every so often, though, some need additional nutritional boosts. Some just aren’t thriving — their coats are still dull and they’re just a little too angular and ribby. For those guys I tend to add the following: A fat supplement and a Vitamin E supplement.

Rice Bran-Based Fat Supplement: I have used a ton of different fat supplements over the years. From Renew Gold, to Hallway Luminance, to Purina Amplify, all of these products and those like them on the market aim to increase “cool calories” and put fat on horses. Each brand has its own mix, but they’re based on rice bran and the idea is that it is a caloric boost without adding any wild to your ride. Thin horses work their way onto the full dosage of whatever brand I am feeding at the time and ribs tend to start to disappear pretty quickly. The great thing is that it’s a pretty easy way to add weight without breaking the bank. But a reminder again, this stuff helps, but forage is really your key. Add more alfalfa and more accessible quality hay (the quality matters here) to pack on the pounds.

Sue (Lakota Territory) is starting to really put the weight on. He’ll take a minute to get fat, but we’re on the way. Photo by Lily Drew.

Vitamin E: Vitamin E has been the unexpected MVP for a few of my horses. Through its antioxidant qualities, it (usually plus selenium) boosts the immune system, helps promote healthy cells which means healthy nerve and muscle function and has the added side effect of increasing the quality of the skin and coat. Vitamin E is found in good quality grass, but we lose it in our forage somewhere in the hay making process. Thus, especially in the winter or when horses are on poor, thin, burnt, or otherwise less-than-awesome grass, they’re probably low on the E.  My favorite Vitamin E supplement lately has been Elevate from Kentucky Performance Products. It comes in a powder form you can purchase directly from the company or from any retailer, but there is also a prescription liquid that your vet can obtain.

Your vet can run a blood test for Vit E/Selenium levels in your horses. It’s a good way to get a baseline, but it also isn’t going to hurt them to just give it a shot (at least when it comes to Vitamin E — be careful with selenium because horses can suffer ill effects from selenium toxicity).

Neil (Lute’s Angel), Littles and I are all grateful that the grass finally came back after a very long winter. Photo by author.

I have found that horses who let down hard from the track — the ones who just fall apart when it hits three-to-six months out — really benefit from high doses of Vitamin E. As their muscle structure is changing from a tucked up greyhound of a horse to a softer, rounder, must-use-their-hind-end sport horse, the nerves and muscles need all the help they can get. I also throw it at my horses when they seem a little weak or wonky behind. The support for the nervous system causes vitamin e to be key part of EPM treatment. So anyone who is odd in their hind end (EPM or not), I just add the additional support — it certainly doesn’t hurt.

When Wolf (Louisiana Moon, who ran 62 times) let down, he dropped weight, his hind end fell apart, we lost our left lead entirely, and his topline went to hell. All the injections and feeding in the world wasn’t putting him back together again. However, super high doses of Vitamin E did. He went from a “maybe we should hide him behind the barn” mess to fat, shiny and capable again. I’ll credit Vitamin E with that win.

A note on the vitamin E: Natural vitamin E is more biologically potent than synthetic. There are physiological differences in the absorption, utilization, and tissue retention of synthetic and natural vitamin E. In fact, the body preferentially transports and incorporates natural vitamin E. Current research in several species, including horses, shows that natural vitamin E is two to three times more potent than synthetic. So make sure you’re giving your horse what it needs!

Wolf (Louisiana Moon) showing off his standard, lovable “don’t touch me” antics while jumping around with Izzy Gritsavage at a recent clinic. Photo by Lily Drew.

Anyway, I could go on and on (as I already have…), but the point is that this combo works well here. I’m certain there are a million and eighty-seven ways to feed Thoroughbreds well. This is just one option.

But before I sign off, a big thing I did not touch on here is ulcer treatment and gut health. What I feed does support a healthy digestive system, but it is not going to cure grade three ulcers. I’ll get to that in an upcoming article. In the meantime, I’m just grateful that I can get the majority of my Thoroughbreds on a good nutritional track without feeding my entire savings account in grain and excessive supplements.

Now if I could just balance my diet similarly…

Go ride folks, thank goodness for good weather — finally.

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