Ode to Feeding an OTTB

Mar 26

3/27/20

“Behold the OTTB!”

Below is a very long post, but a must read if you're bringing home an OTTB.

For those unfamiliar, the term OTTB stands for off the track thoroughbred. Many of us out there, myself included, have found great athletic partners in these horses who have finished their racing career and need a new job. I see OTTB's doing everything from hunters, jumpers, eventing, barrel racing, you name it - someone has tried it! They are great partners for a skilled and knowledgeable rider who wants a horse with a lot of heart and stamina.

This is an important topic for this page because if you've ever owned an OTTB, you know they can be very hard keepers and often have difficulty transitioning from the track to a new life and feeding program. To understand why this is, one must first understand the life and diet of a horse at the track.

Life at the track is fast paced and highly regimented. Track horses are treated as true performance athletes and the mental and physical demands are high. A track horse is stalled much of the day except while in training or being hand walked. Most are groomed, bathed, poulticed/wrapped and handled to some extent daily. The daily routine is consistent and the energy is palpable to horses and humans on the "back side". The back side refers to the area that track horses are stabled. Even while receiving top notch care, the atmosphere does lend to a lot of excitement and anxiety.

The diet of a race horse may surprise you. These horses usually have a never ending supply of high quality hay. I see a lot of straight alfalfa and alfalfa mixes in hay bags hung outside of their stalls. The grain most get is a textured (sweet feed) race blend mixed with straight oats. Oats are a traditional ingredient and do provide an economical source of energy to racehorses. While oats are not nutritionally balanced on their own, they do help provide extra calories that can help meet the energy demand for racing. The feeding rate will probably surprise you, as many track horses eat between 12-15 lbs. of grain per day! Imagine if you fed that amount of grain to your trail horse or pleasure horse?! Or if you fed 15 lbs. of sweet feed to your OTTB? Someone call an ambulance!...

This surprises people especially because even while eating that amount of feed and hay, race horses are often pretty lean. Some of them "worry" away calories due to a more sensitive (ie. high-strung) nature. They also burn a lot of calories in exercising and performing a full speed race. Also they are inherently hard keepers. Mother nature apparently did not intend for this breed to be obese. Which makes sense, because a fat race horse would be a slow race horse, right?

So, how do you feed them once you get them home? Here is a step by step process that I recommend to owners and used for my own OTTB last fall. His pictures are below and show my results.

To consider before buying your OTTB:

1. Your OTTB has been eating a LOT of feed and hay. The feeding objective of a track trainer is to make sure the horse eats the feed so they have good body condition and the fuel to perform. Sweet feed high in molasses and oats are the way to achieve high intake. If you want to feed pellets, they may not be the tastiest thing right away, although your horse should adapt in time. You should also know, your OTTB will need more feed than most other horses at your barn.

2. Your horse probably has worms and ulcers. Both things can impair nutrient absorption. Have a fecal egg count performed right away by your vet once your horse is home in order to strategically deworm if necessary. Offering free choice hay and a gastric buffer can provide a favorable environment for ulcer improvement and prevention. Horses will severe ulcers will need omeprazole for 30 days ($$$). **Talk to your vet about this**

3. You are going to spend a lot more money on feed for an OTTB than for your easy going 1,000 lb. trail horse. Think of your new OTTB as a feeding investment. I personally feed my current OTTB per day: 8 lbs. of premium high fat low starch grain per day, 1 lb. fat supplement and 1/2 lb. protein supplement. He costs me $175.30 ON TOP of my board that I already pay per month. Your OTTB may cost much less, but if you want something different than the barn grain and want to add supplements, these guys will be expensive. The barn grain where I am is high quality, but I wanted a blend with higher fat because I knew my horse needed a boost of fat when I brought him home. I've continued with this product because he does amazing on it!

4. Make sure wherever you are taking your new OTTB offers free choice hay. If limit fed, ensure that they have very high quality hay and that your OTTB can receive at least 2%+ of their bodyweight in hay per day. On the hay topic.... alfalfa mixes are a great option for thoroughbreds! Alfalfa is naturally higher in calcium ( a known buffering agent) than grass and can provide some improved gut comfort to your OTTB. Alfalfa is also typically higher in calories than grass hay, so that's a double win for your new hard keeper.

5. Your OTTB has likely not been on pasture in quite some time. Ideally you will slowly acclimate him or her to pasture over the course of 7-10 days. Start with 1 hour on day 1 and slowly build up to a full day of turnout.

Those are a few of the basics before you make an offer on your new OTTB. After you've bought your OTTB and before you leave the track, below are 3 great things to get. (Most won't get these things, but if you can it is helpful!)

1. Find out how many lbs. of feed your new horse currently eats per day.

2. Ask for 1/2 a bag of their existing grain.

3. Ask for a small bale of hay or several flakes off from what they've been eating.

It will be stressful for your OTTB first of all to leave their stable pals and the grounds in general. Adding the stress of switching their entire diet in the same day can be problematic. If you can't get any of their existing grain or hay that is ok, but it's good to start with something they know and are used to if possible.

Once you get them home:

1. Allow your horse to acclimate slowly. Acclimate to pasture slowly, introduce to a new herd slowly, put on new feed slowly. Slowly = ~7 days if possible. If you have the hay and grain from the track: Mix the track hay with your barn's hay for 3+ days and then go to full barn hay. Feed only the track grain for 2-3 days during the settling process.

2. Take a profile picture of "day 1" so you can monitor changes in condition. Repeat this once a month.

3. Choose a high quality grain that is appropriate for your new OTTB. High fat, low starch grains offer work great for these horses. Although many mixtures will be suitable! Depending on condition and how many lbs. your horse was getting - many horses straight from the track drop a bit of weight right away and need 8-10 lbs. of grain per day. Sounds like a lot, I know. This amount isn't always needed forever, but this transitional time is not a good time to see if you can get away with less. My personal OTTB started at 10 lbs. of grain per day and now gets 8. This is the amount he needs to maintain body condition. You will find your OTTB's sweet spot in terms of grain lbs., it will take a bit of time however to know this.

4. Consider at fat supplement in addition to your grain. A high quality extruded fat supplement with flax, rice bran and other quality fat sources can be helpful in this transition. This would often be fed at a rate of 1-2 lbs. per day.

5. Mix your new feed with the track feed for at least 4 days, slowly reducing the lbs. of track feed until only new feed is left. Start building up the feed you've selected never increasing the amount by more than 0.5 lbs of new grain per meal. To be more conservative, do not increase the new grain by more than 0.5 lbs. per day.

6. Make sure high quality hay is offered free choice, or at 2%+ of your OTTB's bodyweight per day.

7. Have your vet do a fecal egg count. This is cheap, simple and can significantly deter your progress if your horse is loaded with worms!

8. Have your vet do a general health check. The last thing you want is an underlying health issue to interfere with your efforts to help your horse thrive.

So you have your feeding program up and running, now what?...

Wait and be patient. Body condition changes take time in the most normal of circumstances. This situation is a bit different. You have an animal that came from a high stress environment, likely has ulcers, may be body sore, is meeting a new herd, and is changing everything they know to be true about life. This transition will take you 3-6 months and may include trial and error with grain products and/or amounts. You will likely see weight drop in the first month. Don't panic... be patient. If you've followed my previous instructions you are on the right path. If it's been 2 months and the progress is still going downhill, it's time to call your vet or a nutritionist to do some troubleshooting.

Give yourself several months to get your horse to the body condition you want. Then once you've maintained ideal condition for 60 days, you need to identify the "sweet spot" in terms of how many lbs. of grain and which product it takes to keep your OTTB looking and performing great. Use my previous post on body condition scoring to know if your horse has ideal condition. If they are too thin, it's time to boost caloric intake. If they are overweight, it may be time to scale back. You will have to pay close attention to your horse's body condition to know what is best for him. They are all unique so it's impossible to say what amount they will thrive on.

If you've made it this far well done! There can be more to this equation that a nutritionist can help you with if need be. You may also have your own program that works that is totally different and that's great. The beautiful thing about nutrition is there are many ways to achieve the same thing! My suggestions are based on experience, what the science says, and what I've seen work. But I never turn down a chance to learn other ways. Feel free to message me with your great ideas on this topic!