equine nutrition | Horse Racing Free Tips

Hygain Acquires Arenus Animal Health

Hygain, a premium equine nutrition solutions brand, has announced that it has reached an agreement with owner and CEO Dr. Jay Altman to acquire 100 percent of Arenus Animal Health (Arenus).

Arenus is a leading animal supplement and nutraceuticals brand based in the United States. Developed by veterinarians and nutritionists, the products are supported by clinical research and backed by a team of animal health specialists.

Hygain CEO, Kevin Bareira, said: “Since our entry into the U.S. three years ago, Hygain has continued to scale with a customer base now spanning more than 20 states. We see a market opportunity with Arenus – the No. 1 endorsed brand by veterinarians – to grow our advanced and research-based nutrition solutions across a range of disciplines.

Together, we can build on a shared culture of technical excellence, customer care and passion for animal health, as well as our combined scale and customer service to take advantage of growth opportunities in the veterinary channel and the broader U.S. market. In a vote of confidence for the future of our combined business, Dr. Jay Altman will remain a shareholder and play a key role in guiding our growth plans in the U.S.”

Veterinarians play a significant role in the nutrition decisions of horse owners in the United States, where Arenus has established itself as the most endorsed brand of nutraceutical products. Hygain's strong international distribution networks will support Arenus' further growth, along with achieving potential supply chain efficiencies.

Hygain sees opportunities to better service customers with another highly efficacious and science-backed brand in its portfolio.

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Altman, added, “Arenus is delighted to join forces with the team at Hygain to better serve this industry we're all so passionate about. With both brands widely recognized in the U.S. for their superior quality, we can now combine our complementary product offerings to better meet the evolving needs of veterinarians and horse owners and customize nutritional packages for superior health, well-being and performance.”

Experts Weigh In On OTTB Nutrition And The Challenges Of Finding A Balance

Feeding an off-track Thoroughbred (OTTB) comes with many challenges, especially in the first months after retirement. That's why the topic was featured prominently during the educational seminars at this year's Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium.

Dr. Bill Vandergrift, nutritionist and founder of EquiVision, and Dr. Jyme Nichols, director of nutrition for Bluebonnet Feeds and Stride Animal Health, fielded common questions about feeding OTTBs during a seminar on Oct. 15.

A few key takeaways:

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for feeding Thoroughbreds after they leave the track, and that was likely true while they were on the track also. Vandergrift said that some track trainers will provide horses a complete feed, which means they're giving a commercial grain mix that's already fortified with the necessary vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Others will customize their feeding plan a bit more, choosing a more basic feed and then customizing a mix of supplements to fit each horse.
If at all possible, Vandergrift and Nichols agree that the best way to begin feeding an OTTB who is new to you is to find out what they were eating before they came to you. That may mean asking the racetrack trainer or adoption program where the horse came from. Then, you want to tailor a feeding program that's as close as possible to what the horse is already used to.
Nichols said that many times, new owners are tempted to make a bunch of changes as quickly as possible to a horse's diet with the goal of getting the horse onto a program they see as healthier. Perhaps surprisingly, she suggests pumping the brakes on that plan.

“We have to remember they're going through a huge change in their environment [when they first come off the track,” she said. “They've lost their friends. That's one thing research says, is just the simple act of taking a horse away from the horses they're familiar with is a major stress event … plus the stress of moving to a new owner, new barn, new stall. Everything is coming down on this horse from a mental aspect.”

Match the initial feed program to what the horse is already used to for one to three weeks after the horse moves into the new barn, and even then introduce changes slowly, Nichols suggested.

When Nichols does begin crafting a new dietary plan for an OTTB, she's most interested in getting basic vitamin and mineral requirements covered first, which can be accomplished with a complete feed. After that, she said she's not too inclined to add supplements to a horse's diet, with the exception of a prebiotic and a probiotic, which can help the horse overcome some stress.
Changes, including moving, showing, or medical events, can seriously impact the bacteria in a horse's gut. Vandergrift said that for many years, he believed that once the stressful event was over, the horse would naturally regenerate the healthy gut microbes they lost during stress. Recently however, he has discovered it's not so simple – those microbes need the right environment to flourish, and it's difficult to supplement them effectively. The most important microbes in a horse's gut are anaerobic, meaning that most of them can't live in the presence of oxygen, so feed manufacturers can't effectively produce many live probiotics in the form of a supplement. Prebiotics, however, are designed to jumpstart the growth of healthy gut bacteria and that's why he leans towards supplementing a horse with prebiotics.
Vandergrift also said that to build a good nutrition program for an OTTB, he likes to know why the horse retired. Was the horse injured? Did the horse spend a lot of time on stall rest recuperating from an injury? Or was the horse turned out for a period of time before coming to their new home, eating mostly forage but a less complete grain meal? A horse's injury or health status can relate to the amount of inflammatory mediators floating around in the body, and Vandergrift said that can change what he wants to feed the horse.
There are lots of reasons a horse's personality may seem “hot” or a horse may seem spooky, but Nichols and Vandergrift said you can't rule out their diet. A diet includes a lot of extra sugar can result in extra inflammation in the horse's body, which may make them appear jumpy or difficult – not strictly as a result of extra calories themselves, but because high sugar, high carbohydrate diets tend to lead to systemic inflammation which can have the horse feeling unwell.“A horse who has higher levels of systemic inflammation is one of those horses who's very difficult to put weight on,” he said. “They're going to be very hyperreactive. A lot of times that systemic inflammation, at least in part, is going to manifest itself in the digestive tract.”Researchers are learning more and more about the relationship between the horse's digestive tract and its brain. Vandergrift said that the gut produces more serotonin in a horse than the brain does. Serotonin is a brain chemical which, among other things, controls the fight/flight response. An unbalanced gut that's not producing enough serotonin can result in a horse who appears to be stuck in “flight” mode, according to Vandergrift.
If a horse is having a difficult time putting on weight, or comes to a new owner as a neglect or starvation case, Nichols said the first place to check is the horse's mouth. Some horses lose weight not because they're not being fed enough, but because they can't effectively break down the food they're getting to access all the nutrients in it.
There's a lot of buzz these days about avoiding soy as an ingredient in horse (and human) feed. Vandergrift said a lot of it is based on misconceptions about the ingredient, particularly concerns that it is genetically-modified and may have anti-digestive enzymes in it.

“I've seen articles on the internet that talk about anti-digestive enzymes or anti-nutritive components and how you shouldn't feed soy or eat soy,” said Vandergrift. “What they fail to mention is that the soybean meal that's been incorporated into an animal diet has been cooked the same way you cook your food before eating it. That cooking kills all the anti-nutritive factors.“

Soy has been fed to horses since before any of us were born, let's put it that way. We don't have any two-headed horses out there and we don't have any dead horses because they consumed soy. Soy is a safe ingredient to feed.

”People also have concerns that soy may contain estrogenic compounds; Vandergrift said in his experience, there are horses who are unusually sensitive to these ingredients, but it's very uncommon.

People often assess their nutrition program in part by looking a horse's topline, but both nutritionists agreed that's not the best way to know if a feed program is working. The topline, especially over a horse's back, is influenced by a lot of things other than fat, as it's comprised of muscles and ligaments as well. Back pain, poor conformation, poor foot balance, weakness, age, and even genetics can influence the way a topline develops. Most experts say the best way to assess a horse's weight is to use the Henneke Body Condition Score system.

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Ask The Nutrition Experts: What Can I Do To Help My OTTB Gain Condition?

Question: My 8-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Caboose, is thin, actually thinner than he was when he came off the track a year ago (ribs on full display). He's turned out for 14-18 hours a day and receives the following ration: five flakes of grass hay, 7 lb (3.2 kg) high-fat grain, 3 cups corn oil, 1 lb (0.45 kg) balancer pellet, 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) of a flax/rice bran supplement, and other supplements (biotin, digestive support, and devil's claw). He's in minimal work. We've investigated dental problems and gastric ulcer issues. Any suggestions?

Answer from Kentucky Equine Research: From my review, the current diet should be supplying appropriate nutrition for weight gain, if not oversupplying key nutrients. When body condition scoring him, is the visibility of his ribs your main concern, or is he lacking condition in general (topline, flanks, etc.)?

A description of the pasture would have been helpful here, as good-quality forage can have a significant impact on the horse's overall health and wellness. Providing free-choice access to good-quality hay and pasture often provides a large portion of the horse's caloric needs. When weight gain is needed, providing free-choice access to hay is recommended, particularly in cases of limited pasture.

With this in mind, five flakes of grass hay may not be supplying enough forage depending on the weight of the flakes and pasture availability and quality. Switching to a high-calorie forage, like alfalfa, would boost the number of calories derived from forage.

Another consideration is the amount of dietary fat in Caboose's diet, as you are feeding several high-fat feedstuffs (concentrate, corn oil, rice bran). Studies have shown a decrease in fiber digestion and utilization when large amounts of soybean oil were fed.

To simplify the feeding program but supply appropriate nutrition, I suggest reducing the number of feeds and supplements offered to just one or two. I would choose one energy-dense feed and feed that according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Because you are trying to increase Caboose's body condition, you will find yourself feeding close to the upper limits of those recommendations. It would not be unusual, for instance, to find yourself feeding 10-12 lb (4.5-5.5 kg) of feed daily or even a little more. Increasing meal size should be done slowly, over the course of 10-14 days.

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Offering a third meal will allow for smaller grain meals and will help maximize digestibility and feed utilization. Including a ration balancer is unnecessary when feeding 7 lb (3.2 kg) of fortified feed, resulting in overfeeding micronutrients.

Horses that struggle to maintain a healthy weight, despite receiving appropriate nutrition, often benefit from a daily digestive health product that supports optimal health and digestive function. EquiShure is one such product; it is a unique digestive buffer that features a protective coating to ensure its delivery to the hindgut.

EquiShure can help balance the support fiber digestion and potentially improve feed efficiency, ultimately resulting in weight gain. EquiShure can be fed along with your current digestive health supplement or you can consider using the total-tract digestive buffer RiteTrac as it contains both gastric support and EquiShure. Australian horse owners should consider these products.

For a horse in light exercise, this feeding rate is relatively high to not see improvement in weight and condition. Further consultation with your veterinarian may be needed to determine any underlying reasons for Caboose's elevated energy needs.

Reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research. Visit ker.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to Equinews to receive these articles directly

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Read The Label On That Gut Supplement Plus Other Tips From An Equine Nutritionist

Feeding performance horses, who are often in regular, intense work programs and traveling to competitions, is a unique challenge from feeding backyard riding horses. The nature of a performance horse's life – travel, work, exposure to new environments, temporary housing, and new hay or water – combine to make these busy horses more susceptible to certain digestive health problems, and it can be hard to balance their energy needs without increasing their chances for those digestive issues.

Dr. Kelly Vineyard, senior nutritionist for Purina, gave a presentation at the virtual annual convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners with a few considerations for the best way to achieve this balance.

Most of us know that maximizing turnout time has been shown to reduce a horse's risk of colic, gastric ulcers, and other issues. What you may not know is that horses who know they're going to have limited turnout time tend to eat more quickly than those with longer stretches of time on pasture. A 500-kilogram horse on pasture for four hours or less will eat a little over one kilogram of dry matter per hour, whereas one turned out for longer will eat more like a half kilogram of dry matter per hour. Other research has shown that consistent, small amounts of forage over an extended time seem to be more agreeable to horses than large amounts followed by periods of fasting.
Of course, it's difficult to get more turnout time for performance horses due to pasture availability and other management needs. Vineyard suggests that small hole hay nets are a good way to mimic this more relaxed forage consumption. The usual recommendation is that a horse eat 1 percent of its body weight in dry matter forage, but Vineyard prefers them to get closer to 1.5 to 2 percent.
It is not a good idea to feed lots of poor quality forage in an attempt to keep a horse eating; lower quality hay is a potential trigger to sensitive horses prone to colic or ulcers and it's also more difficult for the gut to break down. Alfalfa is known to be a natural buffer due to its high calcium and magnesium content, so alfalfa or alfalfa/grass mix is the best option for horses in need of extra GI health considerations.
Even good pasture isn't often enough to meet the energy requirements of a horse in hard work, but Vineyard cautions against grains that are high in starch. Starch is thought to increase the risk of certain hind gut problems. Instead, Vineyard suggests that feeds boosted with fat and fiber as energy sources are friendlier choices for digestive health.
Lots of owners are tempted to add probiotics, prebiotics, or yeast-based supplements to their horse's diet in an attempt to guard against digestive issues. Vineyard encourages owners to scrutinize these supplement products, which aren't regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Question whether there is research and published data on the product, whether the ingredients are readily stated, and whether those ingredients are present in proportions that are similar to other products (because having too little of a good ingredient will make the product ineffective). Also be ready to reevaluate whether a product is doing its job after 30 or 60 days of administration.“There is still no substitute for proper feed selection and implementation of proper feeding practices,” said Vineyard.
Many people know that changes between grains need to be managed slowly, but Vineyard said especially sensitive horses also need gradual transitions between different batches of hay or even major changes in pasture. When possible, make these switches slowly over a few days or even a couple of weeks.

Inflammatory bowel issues can be a common problem in horses, resulting in chronic diarrhea and weight loss despite a high quality diet. Vineyard suggests your veterinarian will have a protocol to deal with this, but it will probably involve giving the colon a break. Long-stemmed forage is much harder for the intestine to break down and can often be replaced with chopped or pelleted hay. Complete, pelleted feeds like senior feeds can be a good option for horses recovering from a period of inflammation or intestinal damage. Psyllium supplementation may also be useful for these cases.

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