Current feeding and exercise practices the day of the race in French Standardbred trotters

Abstract

s / Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 33 (2013) 321-399 348 subsequently omitted from analysis. Reads were analyzed utilizing BLASTn 2.2.23+ and MEGAN (Altschul et al., 1990; Huson et al., 2007) for identification and classification. To detect significant differences in microbial taxa abundance among the samples collected during the different states, we adopted a randomization approach and applied a Bonferroni correction. Of the 319 known taxa that were identified, 19 were unique to the colic state, and 10 were unique to the post-colic state. There were 21 ubiquitous microbes identified. The unique taxa identified in the colic samples included representatives of the phyla Firmicutes (5), Bacteroidetes (3), Proteobacteria (1) and Fusobacteria (1). The unique taxa found in the post-colic samplesincluded microbes from the phyla Firmicutes (11), Proteobacteria (6), Bacteroidetes (1), and Lentisphaerae (1). When the two samples were numerically compared, seventeen microorganisms had significantly greater numbers of reads in the post-colic sample (P < 0.05), while four had significantly greater numbers of reads in the colic sample (P < 0.05). All samples collected during the colic state had greater reads of Clostridium phytofermentans, an uncultured clostridiales bacterium, and Bacteroidetes, as well as an uncultured bacteroidetes bacterium. These data are the first to elucidate specific changes within the microbiome of the equine gastrointestinal tract during a colic episode. Further research is needed to elucidate the role of microbiome changes in the occurrence of and recovery from colic. Current feeding and exercise practices the day of the race in French Standardbred trotters J. Fortier , V. Julliand , P.A. Harris , and A.G. Goachet 1 1 URANIE-USC Nutrition du Cheval Athlete, AgroSup Dijon, France, WALTHAM Center for Pet Nutrition Trainers’ expertise and experience form the foundation for managing trotting horses. Although there are some studies on general feeding and training practices of French trotters [1,2,3] no data is available for the race-day itself. Therefore during theMeeting of Paris-Vincennes 2012, 20 trainers from the Grosbois training center were surveyed from the night before until the day after a race. When in training, horses were all routinely fedmorning,midday and eveningmeals of a concentrate (mainlypellets). 70%of trainersprovidedhay in themorning and eveningwith 20% also giving hayatmidday. When racing, horses arrived at the racetrack two to three hours before the start of the race (usually early afternoon). Before transportation to the racetrack, most trainers (95%) modified themidday concentrate meal either by eliminating (15%), decreasing (20%), feeding earlier (5%), feeding less earlier (15%), giving later (w 1 hour before race: 15%) or varied according to race time and location (25%). Only two of the four trainers who fed hay at midday maintained such apracticeon thedayof the race.During transportation,60%of trainers did not offer hay. On arrival at the racetrack, horses were housed individually on straw with no automatic waterer. Grazing muzzles were immediately fitted or horses were restrained in order to prevent straw ingestion. Just before warming-up 25% of the trainers gave direct oral supplementation e.g. glycerine, salt, honey or alleged antigastric-ulcer products. Warm up consisted of either two 10 min runs or “heats” (56% of trainers) at approximately 5.8 m.s-1 to8.3m.s-1undertakenat90and45minbefore the race start, or one 15 min “heat” at 5.8 m.s-1 (44% of trainers) undertaken 60 min before the start. 45% of trainers did not offer water between warm-up and race start whereas 50% provided a small amount just to « soak the lips », and 5% offered water ad-libitum. After the race, recovery was typically conducted at a slow trot (w 5.6 m.s-1) on the racetrack for 5-10 min until the horses returned to the truck or stall, where they were hand walked until their resting respiratory rate was reached. Typically the evening concentrate meal after a race was replaced by a cerealbran mash (75% of trainers)which often included electrolytes (55%of cases) and sometimes additional selenium (10%). The day after the race, the hay and concentrate rations provided were similar to a non-racing, exercise day in 95% of barns, although the horses were not being exercised. Some of these feeding and exercise practices could impact performance and require further investigation.