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Is it Okay to Ride My Ulcer-Prone Horse After Feeding?
A: While it’s true that it is typically best to avoid feeding horses concentrates (especially those high in starch) within a couple of hours of riding due to the effect this can have on available metabolites during exercise, allowing access to forage has a number of benefits. Remember horses are designed to eat fibrous plant material almost constantly, while at the same time traveling considerable distances.
As a result of this constant forage consumption, horses have evolved to secrete gastric acid into their stomachs on a continuous basis. Acid is secreted whether they are eating or not and is needed to activate enzymes involved in protein digestion. The act of chewing causes the release of saliva, which contains sodium bicarbonate and calcium—both of which act to buffer stomach acid. It’s a brilliant system, because the constantly secreted stomach acid is buffered by the continuous release of saliva from chewing.
But what happens when, instead of continuous access to forage, we meal-feed our horses? The stomach acid is secreted as always, but there is no longer a steady saliva supply. That’s because most horses finish their allotted hay meal in at most a couple of hours unless eating out of a slow feeder. This leaves the stomach environment to become increasingly acidic and raises ulcer risk
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Written by:
Clair Thunes, PhD
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