Is protein heating in horse feed?

 racehorses. The more work they do the more energy they require. This is why racehorses are regularly fed high amounts of cereals

It is very important to selectively feed diets based on the desirable energy levels

Furthermore, you wouldn’t want to feed a non-competing children’s pony excessive amounts of heated feeds. This is because it may result in undesirable behaviours by giving them too much energy; making them potentially more difficult to handle and ride!

If non-athletic horses with low exercise levels are fed ‘heating’ feeds this can also be detrimental to their health. Feeding higher energy feeds inappropriately can result in obesity. 

What is ‘non-heating’ feed?

In contrast, a ‘non-heating’ feed is one that is less likely to produce excitable behaviour in horses when fed in appropriate amounts. Following on from our discussion about race horses having high energy needs due to their huge expenditure, retired racehorses differ. Retired racehorses no longer in work need lower energy levels to ensure maintenance and this can be sourced from ‘non-heating’ feeds containing oils and fibres as the main source of energy. A horse fed a lower energy diet may have more roughage in their diet which still remains a good source of protein. It is also popular for horse owners to feed ‘balancers’ and they contribute a small amount of energy, starch and sugar to their diet, meaning that they too have no ‘heating’ effect.

 Conclusion

To conclude, I hope that this article has provided more of an insight into heating and non-heating feeds. The biggest difference is that heating feeds result in horses receiving a diet much higher in energy compared to non-heating feeds. It’s all about the energy – not the protein! Diets higher in energy should only be fed to horses that are undergoing intense exercise or work levels, otherwise it can result in obesity and potentially undesirable excitable behaviours