OklahomaHorses Magazine May 2023

28 OklahomaHorses • May / June 2023 Good Nutrition Can Alleviate Gastric Acidosis Photos and story by Lindsay Humphrey A aron Custer, who has owned Mannsville Agricultural Center in Mannsville, Oklahoma, since 2003, grew up around ranching, and nutrition has always intrigued him. The more he learned about nutrition and how it either promotes or impedes a high-performing animal, the thicker Custer’s passion grew for the industry. If there’s one thing that continues to plague the horse industry, it’s gastric acidosis, with the impending ulcers that usually follow. Custer was determined to rectify that situation using his knowledge of hindgut fermenters and the diet Mother Nature intended for them. “I love looking at an issue that seems to be chronic and finding a way to fix it,” Custer said. “The only fix for gastric acidosis in horses has been drugs that manipulate the natural digestive process. They absolutely work, but it’s expensive to use those drugs, and when you bring a horse off them, it seems like you get a worse problem than before.” It has been 10 years since a loyal customer brought Custer’s attention to the scope and severity of ulcers in performance horses. The result? KoolSpeed Feed, a forage and fiber-based ration that works to eliminate gastric acidosis, the causative agent of ulcers in foregut and hindgut. “I did some impromptu feed trials on my own horses while I perfected the formula,” Custer said. “It’s important to note that KoolSpeed does not claim to heal, cure, or treat ulcers. Instead, it creates an environment where an existing ulcer will find it difficult to persist and new ones will have a hard time forming.” Simple Ratios “When I was formulating the feed, my number-one goal was and still is to mimic the digestive pattern of a forage-based animal,” Custer explained. “To do that, I need to make a feed that is as close to forage as possible while still incorporating calories, protein, vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals that the animal doesn’t get from supplemental forage.” The first ingredients in KoolSpeed are alfalfa meal and a highly digestible fiber source. They are coupled with a small amount of starch furnished by oats and corn chops to provide the explosive energy that equine athletes require. “If you have too much starch, you end up with digestive issues, and that contributes to acidosis,” Custer said. “I was chasing after a balance of all nutrients, not