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Concentrates Could Limit Training Potential In Early Stages

Cinch Magazine

A recent study at Montana State University suggests that young horses may be easier to train if they temporarily lay off the grain.

The study profiled the behaviour of two-year-olds in training and compared it to their nutrition program. The study involved 12 Quarter Horses who were closely related. Wade Black, an instructor at the MSU and graduate students, trained the horses for three weeks, five times a day.

Half of the horses studies ate only hay- a mixture of grass and alfalfa-while the others ate five pounds of sweet grain. Both groups had access to as much hay and water as they wanted.

The horses were trained for thirty to forty minutes a day, and the heart rates and number of steps taken during training were recorded. Scores were assigned based upon behaviours observed including obedience, get-up-and-go, as well as separation anxiety.

It appeared that the extra energy provided by sweet feed during the early stages of training made the horses more disobedient and fearful and less quick to learn than the horses that only ate hay.

While this data is still being analyzed to determine how the grain affected the horses’ the adrenaline, trainers with tight timelines could increase their training’s effectiveness by temporarily eliminating excess dietary energy.

This study does not suggest that grain should be withheld forever, just during the early stages of training.

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