Feed for racehorses

Horses engaged in racing should be counted among those horses that really have to "perform". From an early age, for most racing horses from the age of two, they will be trained daily for several hours, will be transported frequently (endure transport-stress) and compete on speed and on stamina.

For all these "real performance-horses", feed and feeding is very important.
Of cource this starts with the the feed for the breeding mare and foal, and continues with the right feed for all horses in training and competition.

What is ATP?
For performance-horses, feed-quality, energy- and proteincontent has a direct effect on musclepower, speed and stamina. Energy can be derived glycogen (reserve carbo-hydrate stored in muscle-tissue),glucose (digestion) or fatty acids (directly from feed and fermentation of fibers).

On the cellular level, all energy needs to be presented in form of ATP or Adrenosine-Tri-Phosphate, that can be produced from glycogen, glucose or fatty-acids through one of the two metabolic processes:

• AEROBIC degradation (with oxigen; for long-lasting performance, e.g. in endurance);
• ANAEROBIC degradation (without oxigen, for "explosive" performance in racing).

Feeding:
In general, feeding racehorses in training follows the same global guidelines, but of cource there are differences in "when to feed what and in what quantities". A choice can be made between one or more of the following performance-feeds. Of course, also other HAVENS-feeds can be used.

Our HAVENS feed-programm, offers the following specific racing-feeds: