Re-Covery Mash™ – The Original Hydration Mash

Senior Nutritionist Lizzie Drury has worked at Saracen Horse Feeds for 24 years. During this time, Lizzie has worked with performance horses in many different disciplines. Through working with horses across the globe, Lizzie was able to see how horses compete, perform and recover when away traveling and competing, and this led to the development of Re-Covery Mash™. The effects of inadequate water intake can have dramatic effects on the horse’s health and performance, and so formulating an innovative product was crucial to providing owners with a ‘go to,’ product when water intake was compromised.

Key Features and Benefits

Optimum water and fluid intake – when horses become dehydrated, they can tire easily and become prematurely fatigued. Quite often, a lack of water intake is the cause of a lack of energy, rather than the intake or type of concentrate. In addition, dehydration can lead to further health issues, such as impaction colic or muscle issues. The inclusion of ‘super fibres,’ in Re-Covery Mash™ soak down and absorb water readily, helping to maintain a fluid reservoir in the hindgut that the horse can draw upon when exercising. Super Fibres are also low in sugar and starch, helping to support overall digestive health and making Re-Covery Mash™ a suitable feed for those who require a low starch ration, such as those with a history of gastric or metabolic issues.

Furthermore, ‘super fibres,’ are readily found in numerous horse feeds, meaning that Re-Covery Mash™ can be fed strategically when required in conjunction with a horses' existing ration, and is not designed to remove any part of the horses' existing balanced diet.

Live Yeast – Re-Covery Mash™ contains the recommend dose per kilo of a live probiotic, in order to support the gut microbiome in the hindgut of the horse. This will help to further support the horses normal ration, including the utilisation of their feed and forage. Maintaining hindgut health is vital as horses rely on energy production through the fermentation of fibre in the hindgut. To maximise energy extraction from fibre a symbiotic relationship with the hindgut microorganisms needs to be achieved. These microorganisms require an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment with a pH of 6.5‐7 to thrive and when the environment is not at these ideal conditions, this can have a detrimental effect on health and performance.

Vitamin E – Additional Vitamin E will help to support horses who may be immune challenged, particularly through frequent travelling and being exposed to a new or changing population of horses. Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant that can help to protect muscles from free radical damage, reducing the risk of muscle soreness and supporting recovery following strenuous exercise.

Palatability – When horses are stressed their palette can change and becoming more fussy or picky is a common occurrence. Ensuring that Re-Covery Mash™ was highly palatable even for horses in stressful environments was therefore of great importance, in order to ensure that maintaining water intake could always be achieved. Through extensive research in the field, an encapsulated banana flavouring was found to be the most frequently chosen flavour by horses, and encapsulating the flavour ensures that the flavour is protected and released through the physical process of chewing. Encapsulation is more beneficial than essences and oils as they both tend loose taste and aroma very quickly.

Salt – When horses sweat they lose electrolytes which can cause early muscle fatigue, reduced stamina, muscle cramps, dehydration and slow recovery rates. Salt is included in order to replenish some of the electrolytes that may have been lost through swaeting, as well as stimulate a normal thirst response and additional fluid intake prior to a typical electrolyte supplement being provided. Administration of hypertonic electrolyte supplements without sufficient water being available can further dehydrate the horse, as water is drawn into the intestinal lumen until isotonic. Ensuring adequate water intake through the use of Re-Covery Mash™ is therefore recommended as part of an electrolyte replenishment programme.

Essential Amino Acids – Re-Covery Mash™ contains quality protein sources which supply the essential amino acids – Lysine, Methionine and Threonine. 1-3 hours post exercise there is a greater anabolic window, where there is a greater uptake of nutrients required to support repair and recovery following exercise. Supplying these key amino acids post exercise is therefore beneficial in order for them to be absorbed and facilitated within the horse’s system.

Muscle Glycogen Replenishment – When horses work they use stored energy in the muscles called glycogen, and these energy stores can become quickly depleted for horses that are regularly travelling and competing. It takes 72 hours for muscle glycogen stores to return to base level, but this is only if there is some starch in the diet. This is because the energy horses get from starch is broken down quickly by enzymes in the small intestine, into glucose, and is transported straight to the muscles to be stored as glycogen (or used instantly if required). The energy horses get from fibre, on the other hand, is very slowly broken down. The hindgut of the horse is full of microbes that break down the fibre part of the horses diet. As they do this they release Volatile Fatty Acids which are transported to the liver. It is here that these volatile fatty acids are converted to glucose, which is then transported to the muscles to be stores as glycogen. As you can see this is a much longer process compared to the breakdown of starch. This means for horses that are fed solely fibre based diets they can struggle to maintain their muscle glycogen stores, which is why we see many fibre fed performance horses struggling with recovery rates towards the end of the season. We have included a small amount of barley in the Re-Covery Mash™ to provide an easy to utilise from of glucose for quickly topping up muscle glycogen stores aiding in optimal recovery rates.

NEED MORE GUIDANCE

If you have any further questions about RE-COVERY Mash please get in contact with our nutritional team on 01622 718487 or email nutrition@saracenhorsefeeds.co.uk