Digestibility of nutrients in the diet significantly affects the availability of energy and nutrients to a sport horse. For the first time, we have evaluated the effect of daily walking on the digestibility of nutrients in the diet of sport horses. The main purpose of the research is to study the effect of the maintenance regime of sport horses on the digestibility of nutrients. The horses of the Oryol trotting breed, undergoing the training and preparation program for the tests, were kept in individual loose boxes, received a balanced diet with grain-grass hay and mixed feed, the same for all animals. The study was conducted in 2020–2021. The formulation of the experiment was carried out by the method of Latin squares 2 × 2. The total amount of feed consumed was taken into account daily. We have carried out accounting of the total amount of excreted feces and sampling for analysis during three adjacent days at the end of each period. At the end of each period, we have taken blood for biochemical examination. Animals of one group during the accounting period, in addition to work and a step in an automatic horse walker, were taken out daily for 4–5-hour walks in levades with an area of 0.25 hectares, horses from the second group did not walk and were in the stall all the time outside of work and a horse walker in the loose box. The digestibility of dry and organic matter (p < 0.001), protein (p = 0.047) was significantly higher in horses that had access to walking. In horses during the “no walks” period, the digestibility of both fiber and nitrogen-free extractives was significantly (p < 0.001) lower than during the period when horses, in addition to work, had the opportunity to walk. The indicators of the biochemical blood test were normal and did not reveal significant differences between the groups on most of the items under consideration, except for AST (p = 0.015) and chlorides (p = 0.047), which were significantly higher in horses that had access to walks
Keywords
diet, digestibility, Feeding horses, Diet, feeding horses, exercise, sport horse