Sometimes you will see these terms on feed bags - I hope this helps you translate the information.
DE - Digestible energy refers to the amount of energy in a particular food or diet that can absorbed by the horse. Digestible energy can be can be sourced from starch, fat, protein and fibre. Digestible energy requirements are based on the maintenance Digestible energy plus any energy expended by the horse during exercise. Performance horses in heavy training have a very high DE requirement and sometimes cannot or will not eat enough to meet this. Fat can therefore be added to increase the energy density of the diet.
GE stands for Gross Energy and measures the energy content of food. The basic unit of heat energy is the calorie but the energy content of horse feed is usually measured in kilocalories (1000 calories) or megacalories (1,000,000 calories). The three energy producing components of feed have different GE contents. Carbohydrates contain 4.15 kcal per gram, Fats contain 9.4 kcal per gram and Proteins contain 5.65 kcal per gram. The more strenuous the work, a greater amount if energy should be supplied to the horse in the form of carbohydrates as they are needed to replace muscle glycogen used during work. The form of energy, not just the amount supplied, to a horse is important.
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