“When I worked as a professional competition rider, I often felt something was off with my horses. I frequently asked myself, 'Why aren't they performing as well as I think they can? What is holding them back, what is causing them to knock down five poles even though they feel careful enough?'" That's why I went looking for solutions. In that search, I found good forage and started focusing on forage products that can further help horses."

Knowledge about forage

"For me, it's all about the health of the horse, viewed from a broader perspective. My goal is to take a holistic approach to horses, training, and nutrition. I engage in training horses, instructing, advising horse owners and stable managers, and co-developing a new forage product. Additionally, I am a dealer of several healthy horse feed brands. I completed the epigenetic and orthomolecular consultant training last year with Natascha Bos from Blauwe Hengst. If you start with the basics and look closely at nutrition, it is often unnecessary to use various therapies or supplements for problems with your horse. I have been through such a long journey with horses many times and I want to spare other people from that."

Feeding sport horses: forage, variety, and proteins

Bart continues: "In principle, a sport horse does not differ in digestion from a leisure horse. You want the 'mouth-to-butt' system to function properly. This means starting with unpackaged hay supplemented with a good mineral and vitamin balancer. The best practice is to provide forage in many small portions, a total of two kg dry matter per 100 kg body weight of the horse per day. A horse should not go without forage for more than four hours, even at night. Slow feeders and hay nets are often good options when you cannot always be there. A sport horse often has a slightly higher protein requirement, but proteins can only be added when digestion is in order. Otherwise, the proteins mainly burden the system. Good products for this purpose are, for example, Agrobs Myo Protein flakes, CoolStance Copra (with extra medium-chain fatty acids), Sainfoin, or Alfalfa pellet HP23 from Metazoa." Bart recommends variety: "When feeding your horse, try to vary and mix regularly. Proteins are often a valuable addition to sport horses. Through the digestion of raw cellulose fiber, a horse produces short-chain fatty acids itself. If a horse lacks a bit of energy, simply adding fats is not always the solution."

Moderate management leads to stress and poorer performance

Bart often observes stress in the (sport) horses he encounters. "Not only nutrition plays a role, but also the rest of the management. Nutrition is the basis of everything, but mental nutrition is also an important aspect. It used to be very common for sport horses to be stabled 24/7 and only come out to work or use the walker. But the genes of our current horses are no different from those of wild horses from the past. Those genes are still there, but we have changed so much in the past century in terms of horse keeping that it no longer matches. The consequence of this non-natural horsekeeping and feeding is that you actually see weaker horses emerging. It strays so far from nature that new problems arise. For example, horses developing PPID (Cushing's) at the age of eight or nine, which I have encountered in recent years. We have also seen strange things in the ring lately, such as sport horses dying on the spot from organ failure. The message of this time, in my opinion, is that we need to look more at the horse and its nature. Horses communicate everything, but you have to be willing to see it."

Always back to basics first

"It is often a large puzzle, and it always starts with the basics: feeding unpackaged hay and a balancer," emphasizes Bart. "Owners ask me to come to their horse for various reasons. Sometimes people are a bit stuck in their beliefs, but everyone wants the best for their horse. Then the question is also what people are willing to change. In any case, the forage must first be in order. I usually recommend starting with a balancer without additional concentrate or supplements. This way, the horse can restore its natural balance. If there are specific issues with, for example, the manure, skin, or muscles, you can specifically supplement with supplements. In principle, it is wise to give your horse six weeks to restore the balance of its digestion. Only then will you usually know if you need more than just forage and a balancer."

Grains are not necessary for sport horses

"People are often a bit hesitant to move away from their trusted concentrate because they think a horse needs grains. This is not the case; grains are not natural horse feed. People also often think their sport horses need pellets for energy. But if you feed naturally, without concentrates with all those grains and sugars, your horse actually saves energy. This energy saving occurs when all systems are in balance. Then your horse loses less energy in its daily life. Too much sugar causes imbalance and mini-inflammations in the intestines. As a result, the immune system is constantly active in reversing the negative effects of inflammatory responses in the intestines. Additionally, phytic acid from grains hinders mineral absorption. Furthermore, stress also consumes a lot of energy, so overall management is also important for a horse's energy level."

Adequate energy for your sport horse

How does a sport horse get enough energy without concentrates? Bart: "The energy comes from aerobic metabolism initiated by feeding a horse fibers. This metabolism provides 18 times more energy than the metabolism of quick sugars from grains and starch. But it is a different kind of energy, less fast and peaking. Horses that mainly derive their energy from forage are often calmer in the head. When switching from a ration of grains and silage to unpackaged hay with a balancer, horses sometimes experience an energy dip at the beginning. It often just needs time, and it gets better in a few weeks. I mainly work with high-blood sport horses. Often, you don't see this transition at all; these horses tend to become more agreeable. You can truly engage in sports without grains and regular concentrates."

Practical solutions

Bart likes to think in terms of solutions: "Even for vague complaints, muscle problems, a withdrawn horse, or a weak immune system, the rule remains that you must first have the basics in place. Don't just look at the feed but also at the other circumstances. Is the horse spending enough time outdoors, can it show social behavior? Often there are practical reasons why people don't have an optimal feeding strategy. In that case, you can introduce some extra variety in the forage instead of giving more concentrates. As long as digestion is not in order, a supplement for hooves, for example, will not reach it. A nice new forage product is Fytalgras Primus. It contains hay, sun-dried alfalfa, grass pellets, chopped barley straw, olive oil, flaxseed oil, and Celtic sea salt. For many people in boarding stables, this can be a nice addition because it also adds an extra hour of chewing for the horse," Bart concludes.