Jockeys and their horses must have the strength and fitness to handle the strenuous nature of their profession. Therefore, aside from spending hours honing their preparation skills, dieting is also vital.

Kentucky Derby trainers not only strategies their way to the glory, but they also recommend to their staff what diet their horses should be fed. In this article, you will learn how to maintain a healthy diet to keep horses in good shape.

Standard Diets for Racehorse:

• High-quality protein diet

A meal that has high-quality protein is essential for racehorses as it serves multiple roles. Most importantly, a protein-rich meal helps with musculoskeletal growth, which helps it build strength during training to compete in the demanding sport. Similarly, the protein-rich diet helps with muscle repair, which ensures the horse stays in good shape pre and post-race.

Furthermore, a high-quality protein diet is important to a horse because it helps build healthy skin, coats, and even hooves, contributing to the horse’s performance during the race. The horse’s cardiovascular and immune health will improve when fed meals with high-quality protein. And finally, the horse will benefit from higher mineral and nutrient absorption.

• Low-fat diet

Fats are predominately triglycerides and have several important functions in a jockey’s horse diet. But it is essential to be cautious of the type of fat fed to the horse as some fatty food can cause several complications. The right type of fat can help increase calorie consumption and even aid in absorbing fat-soluble vitamins.

Generally, it’s best to keep the fat content of the horses’ diet to a minimum. For example, feeding the horse with fish oil can be maintained between 4% and 30%. Other types of oil, like flaxseed oil, can be maintained between 14% and 53%. The range varies for different types of oil as there are many considerations to consider, such as the composition of omega-9, omega-6, and omega-3 fatty acids in the oil.

• Limited carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main energy source and are naturally abundant in grains, forages, and grain by-products. When feeding a racehorse carbohydrates, you can categorize them based on their function in plants and how the horse digests them. As such, there are two main classes of carbohydrates, structural and non-structural carbohydrates. Structural carbohydrates are more suited for the horse’s digestive tract.

The amount of non-structural carbohydrates you feed depends on the amount of concentrate a horse is offered. For example, if the horse is on a forage-only diet,  such as barren broodmare or lightly ridden pleasure, horses can only ingest a few amounts of non-structural carbohydrates.

Carbohydrate diets high in sugars and starch are typically not recommended for racehorses because they can cause health issues such as obesity, insulin resistance, and hindgut acidosis. As such, it’s best to limit carbohydrate diets to hydrolyzable, rapidly fermentable, and slow fermentable carbohydrates.

• Fiber-rich diet

Jockey’s horse diets are often rich in fiber. Forms of carbohydrates like hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin are rich in fibers that aid digestion. Since these forms of fiber cannot be digested in the small intestine, the horse relies on bacteria that live in the hindgut to digest the fiber by fermentation which helps keep the digestive tract healthy.

Additionally, a fiber-rich diet provides an excellent source of energy and calories for the racehorse. Also, the fiber provides the horse with vitamins like biotin, vitamin B1, vitamin K, and so on. Fibers also hold up water, acting as a water reserve when the horse needs it.

• Limited Sugar

Finally, while there is sugar in horse diets to boost their energy, it is kept to a minimal quality. Excess sugar in the racehorse diet does more harm than good, as it can disrupt the normal digestion process. In addition, the excess sugar and starch can leave the horse’s foregut where they normally would be absorbed and go into the hindgut.

Also, according to Kentucky Performance Supplement, excess sugar can cause digestive upset, especially when the horse already has a compromised or sensitive digestive tract. And considering most of the horse jockey’s diet is already high in sugar and carbs, considering there is no sugar-free diet for horses, it’s important to limit adding extra sugar.

• Water importance

It is crucial for horses to stay hydrated as dehydration can impair concentration and coordination. Clean, fresh water is always accessible for horses to drink. They usually drink 5  to 10 gallons a day. Their water needs can be influenced by the temperature, activity rate and diet that horses are set.

What about Jockeys Diet?

As with horses, jockeys also adhere to a strict diet training regimen. They also tend to eat three meals a day that are light but rich in fiber. Since they keep their weight in check, they often avoid high-calorie products, such as alcohol, as well as excessive fats and carbohydrates. What is different from the horse diet is that they need sugar to maintain their glucose rate.

How Can You be as Strong as a Horse?

Luckily for you, there are multiple ways to lose weight and maintain healthy eating without drastic changes, from drinking green tea to sleeping. In fact, these strategies are the best-kept weight-loss secrets because they are effective for a wide range of people.