17 May Feeding recommendations for the Campdrafting Horse 

Campdrafting is a unique Australian equestrian sport in which horse and rider combinations select a bullock from a herd and drive it round a set course. The riding style is similar to American Western Riding, and the event is similar to stock horse events such as cutting and team penning.

 

Each horse and rider combination must show they are capable of cutting out and stopping the selected animal from returning to its mates at the back of the camp. Then, when they feel they have sufficiently shown the judge their horses ability to do this, they call “gate” – and proceed to attempt to guide this animal around a barrel race-like pattern of pegs.

Campdrafting involves short bursts of high intensity work from the horse, with repeated rapid accelerations and decelerations (as demonstrated from the video above). On non-competition days, campdrafting horses are typically in light to moderate level training, meaning that the overall exercise level is rated as moderate. The sport involves rapid depletion of muscle glycogen stores during competition days – which then revert back to normal levels in recovery/training periods.

Our recommended feed for this type of activity is the Thompson & Redwood HORSE CUBES. They are well suited as they have:

* A moderately high energy density to sustain activities involving quick energy bursts, without being excessive.

* High fibre, low fat pellet. It is important that horses with this sort of workload are kept in good but lean body condition. Excess fat means unnecessary weight places extra stress on joints and support tissues.

Fat is mainly stored under the skin and acts as insulation, making it more difficult to disperse heat. Since the conversion of the energy in glycogen to work energy is very inefficient, heat load can become a real problem during competition. It is thus important to match energy intake to expenditure; the energy density and composition of Thompson & Redwood HORSE CUBES has been set at a level calculated to suit this type of exercise.

* They are a good source of highly digestible starch – absorbed as glucose which is taken up by muscle and converted to glycogen. This allows for rapid recovery of glycogen reserves.

* The cubes are fully supplemented with vitamins and minerals – meaning that no other supplements are required.

We would recommend feeding 4-5kg a day, depending on training workload/horse size/condition. Feed in conjunction with high quality roughage, with constant access to clean water. All T&R feeds are made using the highest quality Western Australian produce, and made fresh here in WA.