Nonstructural Carb Tolerance in Healthy Horses (AAEP 2011)

“A moderate intake of NSC (30% of total DE) is perfectly fine for non-obese normal horses,” Pagan concluded.
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The words "nonstructural carbohydrates" have become almost synonymous with "bad news" in the horse industry, mainly because many owners’ goals have been to reduce these sugars and starches (while increasing fat levels) to provide "safer" calories for horses with certain medical conditions. But until recently it was unclear what an NSC diet means for a "normal," nonobese horse.

At the 2011 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Nov. 18-22 in San Antonio, Texas, Joe Pagan, PhD, president of Kentucky Equine Research (KER), described his and colleagues’ research on the effects of carbohydrate and fat intake on glucose tolerance in the healthy horse.

Pagan pointed out that there is a perception among horse owners that feeding any nonstructural carbohydrate to healthy horses will lead to insulin resistance (the inability of the hormone insulin released from the pancreas to manage glucose levels in the bloodstream) and metabolic disorders, even when horses aren’t obese.

Previous studies conducted at KER found that healthy horses fed high-fat diets have a marked delay in clearing glucose, whereas when consuming carbohydrates from sweet feed, glucose returned to normal clearance rates. To test this theory further, his team evaluated four healthy, nonobese Thoroughbred geldings with body condition scores of 5-6 (out of 9), aged around 21.5 years old. The horses were stalled except for six hours of daily turnout with a grazing muzzle

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Written by:

Nancy S. Loving, DVM, owns Loving Equine Clinic in Boulder, Colorado, and has a special interest in managing the care of sport horses. Her book, All Horse Systems Go, is a comprehensive veterinary care and conditioning resource in full color that covers all facets of horse care. She has also authored the books Go the Distance as a resource for endurance horse owners, Conformation and Performance, and First Aid for Horse and Rider in addition to many veterinary articles for both horse owner and professional audiences.

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