feeding 1 hour before exercising

Question
hello ma'am, before i start exercising a horse in the morning, i would feed them lightly one hour before i take them out. why there should be a gap of one hour, why not 45minutes or 1/2 hour gap?

Answer
Hi Rohit,

Thank you for your question.  We've discussed rate of passage of feed in some of your previous questions.  Ideally, grain should have at least an hour to spend in the stomach to be digested properly.  If your horse exercises 30 or 45 minutes after eating, the rate of passage increases and grain will pass through the stomach without having been properly digested.  This could result in digestive upsets, especially if the grain is rich in starch and the starch reaches the hindgut undigested.

Thanks, Corlena