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Carbohydrates are an essential part of a horse’s diet, making up around 75% of the total ration. Much of this carbohydrate is made of cell wall that is only digestible by bacteria living in the hindgut. Every equine diet should include at least 25% cell wall (NDF). The nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content of the horse’s diet can vary tremendously depending on the class of horse and energy requirement. Mature idle horses need little added NSC in their diets while the diets of high-performance horses should contain 32 to 36% NSC.

It is probably preferable to wait several hours after feeding the horse before it is strenuously exercised. This will allow blood glucose and insulin to return to resting levels and prevent a rapid drop in blood glucose at the onset of exercise.

Feeding hay with grain may decrease the digestibility of starch in the small intestine. Horses should have free-choice access to hay so that they will eat small amounts continually. If this is not possible, it may be best to feed grain a few hours before hay to allow complete digestion of the grain’s starch in the small intestine.

Large fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin may affect behavior in horses. To decrease this effect, then meal size should be small and a portion of the concentrate’s DE should come from fat and fermentable fiber. A single meal should never supply over 0.3 to 0.35% of the horse’s body weight as nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) since higher levels of grain intake will result in starch overload, which may lead to colic and laminitis.

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