The diet of modern-day horses is a far cry from the diets these monogastric, hindgut fermenting herbivores evolved to consume. In the wild, horses and ponies naturally consumed a high fibre diet, with studies showing they will eat a wide variety of grasses, herbs, forbs and browse1-3. As continuous grazers, this diet was consumed by devoting large periods of time to grazing in a 24-hour period.

Today, with the demands placed on horses to breed, race or perform in any number of equestrian disciplines, their diet has been altered dramatically. Forage-only diets have been, until relatively recently, viewed as being incapable of meeting a breeding, racing or performance horse’s dietary energy needs.

The aim of this whitepaper is to discuss the performance, health and welfare implications of modern feed ingredients on horses and to examine how the use of a variety of digestive enzymes can improve performance potential, health and welfare.