27/10/2023
Zajímavý, možná lehce kontroverzní článek a množství cukru v krátké trávě, aneb cukr možná není viník.
Understanding Carbs/Sugars and Crude Protein
*For the purpose of this post, the word ‘sugars’ encompasses sugars, carbs, starch, fructans and 'NSC's.
Somehow horse owners have become entrenched in the belief that:
1. ALL sugars are ‘bad’ for all horses.
2. Sugars are the cause of the majority of the issues with their horses
3. The shorter the grass, the higher the sugars. Yet multiple forage analyses we have conducted prove this to be untrue.
Hence the plethora of ‘Low Gi’ feeds now available.
The trouble is that there is a serious flaw in the idea that ‘Low sugars’ is good for horses.
‘Low sugars’ is only good for horses, when you ALSO LOWER THE CRUDE PROTEIN from their forage.
Allowing grass to mature does this for you – mature, stalky grass works well for most horses because of its lower CP & sugars - the ‘fly in the ointment’ is the green, grass component of their diet especially when it is short ie high in Crude Protein (Nitrogen) and LOW in sugars and fibre meaning LOW carbohydrate levels which means there is INSUFFICIENT energy available to metabolise the high Crude Protein load.
To be clear:
EVERYBODY needs to be cognizant of the sugar and starch content of their horse's diet ESPECIALLY when their horse is overweight, EMS, prone to laminitis or has ‘PSSM’ type issues.
EVERYBODY ALSO needs to be aware of the Crude Protein levels because of its Nitrogen component.
Crude Protein and ‘sugar’ levels in green grass are inversely proportional – when CP is high, sugars are low, if it is high in crude protein, the horse needs energy from carbohydrates in order to be able to metabolise the Crude Protein.
Obviously it is not advisable to raise the horse’s carbohydrate load to meet the crude protein level, therefore it is NECESSARY to reduce the Crude Protein by restricting (or in some cases eliminating) any green forage. This is ONE of the reasons lucerne doesn’t work for many horses - it is high Crude Protein and low in sugars. (Lucerne was traditionally fed with oats to working horses, a strategy which worked for the reasons outlined here).
Horses derive the majority of their energy from STRUCTURAL CARBS (fibre) which are fermented by the hind-gut flora. This is why they need a diet high in coarse fibrous material.
The Volatile Fatty Acids produced provide enough energy to fuel life processes and the workload of the average recreational horse.
More energy may need to be added to feeds when horses are in more intense work, or when required for breeding.
Significantly, the common denominator of the most recent 1000 CHH Enquiry Forms, from owners having major issues with their horses, is ‘green grass’, most on short green grass, some on lush green grass. PLENTY of horses develop laminitis or become head-shakers on such grass.
Allowing the grass to grow to maturity means it will be suitably low in both crude protein and soluble sugars, suitably high in fibre. If your grazing situation does not allow you to leave your grass for that long, feed their grass as hay.
Pic: Indy was a problem for most of her life UNTIL we changed our management. Feeding grass as hay goes a long way to solving the majority of issues caused by consuming green grass all year round