The long term effects of feeding fat to 2-year-old Thoroughbreds in training.

Summary A study to evaluate the long term effects of feeding a fat supplemented diet during medium intensity, aerobic training was conducted over 7 months using 12, 2-year-old Thoroughbreds. The control group (n=6) was fed grass hay and a fortified sweet feed (CON) and the other group (FAT)(n=6) received hay, sweet feed, a supplement pellet and 400 ml of soybean oil that supplied about 12% of the DE intake of the FAT group. After 2, 4 and 7 months, the horses performed 2 standardised exercise tests (SETs) on a high speed treadmill. The first test (STEP) consisted of sequential steps of 800 m at speeds of about 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11 m/s. V [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]