light feed to racehorse

Question
hi ma'am, can i feed my racehorse lightly 1 hour before taking it to the track? if yes, what all i can feed?

Answer
Hello Rohit,

Thank you for your question.  It is fine to allow your horse to eat forages before working, but you may want to be cautious feeding grain, especially cereal grains.  Exercise can increase the rate of passage of food through the digestive system and result in undigested soluble nutrients making it to the hindgut without having properly been digested.  Although in the case of protein and fats, this is not a big deal.  But if undigested non-structural carbohydrates end up in the cecum, the result can be cecal acidosis and increased risk of gas colic.  If in doubt, avoid feeding anything but forages immediately prior to intense exercise.

Thanks, Corlena