21/10/2026
Jak moc ovlivňuje spokojené, respektive nespokojené bříško trénink..?
How does nutrition affect collection? 🌾
We’ve all, at some point, suffered some sort of bloating or abdominal discomfort. And you’ll know that when you have, it affects everything from your posture to how you move.
The same can be true for horses.
If the horse has disturbed intestinal function due to incorrect nutrition, it’s easy for them to develop stomach and intestinal complaints. This can cause, among other things, too much gas, an irritated intestinal wall, inflammation, insufficient intake of nutrients and diarrhoea, and it can contribute to stomach ulcers.
So how does this relate to collection?
Gastrointestinal complaints often lead to abdominal pain, and a horse in discomfort wants to shift weight away from the trunk and onto the hind end. To do that, they tighten the abdominal muscles to close the underline. Tensing the abdominal muscles increases the pressure on the abdominal organs and can increase the pain.
So a horse that’s in discomfort and tensing the abdomen can’t use their body effectively.
A horse also needs to build muscle strength to be able to collect in training. For that, the muscle tissue has to increase, and that’s only possible if the horse can properly absorb nutrients.
This leads to the question: what is correct nutrition? In short, correct nutrition consists of unlimited feeding of good quality roughage.
What does a horse get from roughage? They can extract small amounts of sugar (carbohydrates), protein and fat. As soon as the food enters the caecum and large intestine, it starts to ferment. The microflora (bacteria) break down the cellulose and turn it into volatile fatty acids that the horse can absorb.
Muscles need protein and energy to become stronger, and a healthy gut is what lets the horse get the most out of their roughage. If there’s a disturbance in the intestinal flora, the fermentation process is less successful and the horse gets less out of their feed.
These days, concentrates still contain a lot of sugar (molasses) and grains. Grains consist of fast carbohydrates (sugars). Because of these sugars, the internal environment of the intestine is disturbed, so the bacteria that need to ferment can’t do this properly. On top of that, the physiology of the modern horse isn’t built for the intake of a lot of sugar. Horses are naturally animals that consume few fast carbohydrates or sugars, so why are we feeding concentrates that have so much in them?
Incorrect nutrition affects the gastrointestinal system, but there’s another important point. Horses are physiologically and psychologically geared to unlimited access to food, or at least the possibility to go looking for food if they feel hungry. If a horse doesn’t get enough roughage, the acidity in the stomach increases, which increases the risk of stomach ulcers. A hungry horse is stressed, and stress causes an increase in the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, which means it breaks down the body to provide immediate energy in a panic situation. Muscles are broken down to supply glucose to run away quickly.
That’s a good system if it’s short-lived. It’s a system to survive an immediate attack from a mountain lion. But if a horse has chronic stress because of a lack of roughage and can’t go looking for it (or has stress from other environmental or training issues), they don’t build muscle very well and can’t recover well after a workout or injury.
Sugar and stress therefore have a negative effect on the stomach and intestines, and on muscle development and muscle metabolism too.
Knowing what’s good for your horse can be complicated, because many studies contradict each other. But sufficient good quality roughage, with sugar and fast carbohydrates (from grains, for example) kept low, is the base to start from. It’s also important to remember that each horse is an individual with individual needs. Feeding remains a matter of searching, experimenting and observing how your horse reacts.
Training does not stand on its own. It can only be successful and enjoyable for your horse if you consider a lot of factors, and good nutrition is one we can’t ignore.
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Love, Karin and Lydia
