Feed for racehorses

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

For all these "real performance-horses", finding the right feed is very important.
Of course this starts with 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 from glycogen (a reserve of carbo-hydrates 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, which is produced from glycogen, glucose or fatty-acids through one of the two metabolic processes:

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

Feeding:
In general, feeding racehorses in training follows the same global guidelines, but of course 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-programme, offers the following specific racing-feeds: