Wild Mustang Study

On March 25, 1988, 67 wild horses were started on a field study for Cytozyme Laboratories, Inc., of Salt Lake City, Utah. The purpose of this study was to determine what effect, if any, the addition of Ration Plus™ For Horses would have on the overall nutritional plane of a group of stressed horses. These horses had just been received at the Wild Horse Training Facility, Los Lunas Correctional Center, Los Lunas, New Mexico. The Bureau of Land Management had contracted with the New Mexico Department of Corrections for the gentling and halter breaking of these wild horses. They came from the BLM's Wild Horse Holding Facility in Lovelock, Nevada where they had recently been gathered off the Nevada Desert.

Upon arrival the horses were thin, and had long, dead hair coats, but otherwise were in good condition. The horses were divided into two groups by a "gate cut", placed in identical pens next to each other, fed moderate quality alfalfa hay free choice, and handled the same in every way. Ration Plus™ For Horses was dropped on the hay in pen one every morning after feeding at a rate of 5cc per head. All horses were individually weighed on a set of portable balance beam scales and were dewormed with Eqvalan paste after being weighed the third week of the study. Between the third and fifth weeks, 16 horses were removed from the study for outside adoption by the public.

There was clearly a marked difference in the performance between the two groups of horses. The horses that were treated with Ration Plus™ on the feed gained an average of 86.3 pounds during the 51 day study. The horses that were not treated gained an average of 41.4 pounds during the same period. This represents a weight gain of 108.5% greater in the treatment group then in the untreated control group. The most noted difference in the performance of the two groups occurred during the first week of the study. The treated group gained 4.7 pounds per day, while the untreated group gained 1.6 pounds per day. As the horses had just been transported a considerable distance into new facilities with completely new environmental and nutritional conditions, this would be the period of highest stress. It appeared to the evaluators that the group treated with Ration Plus™ recovered from the stress of shipment much more rapidly then the untreated control group.

The weight gains then decreased to a low of 0.4 pounds per head per day for the treated group on week three. The untreated group lost 0.7 pounds per head per day on week 5. Both groups increased their weight gains from that point.

It was observed, both on the graph of average daily gain and from the overall appearance of the horses, that the treated horses were at least two weeks ahead of the untreated horses. The horses that were treated with Ration Plus™ shed off their dead hair coats and "filled out" their appearance approximately two weeks before the untreated horses. From week two until the end of the study it was apparent that the horses in the treated group had a much better appearance then the untreated group. This is a very subjective, but I feel valid observation on the part of the investigators.

There was not enough diarrhea or respiratory disease among the horses to note whether or not overall health was affected.