BY PIPER KLEMM Ph.D.
If you have ever been told to make sure your horse has hay before a ride, you were given advice that makes intuitive sense and has some scientific backing but a researcher at the University of Queensland (Australia) wants to find out whether it actually works the way we think it does, and her findings could change how performance horses are managed around the world.
Researcher Stephanie Bond is conducting a two-year study, funded by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, examining how different feeding routines before exercise affect acid splash inside a horse’s stomach during work. The condition at the center of her research is Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome, or EGUS, specifically a form of it called Equine Squamous Gastric Disease, which affects the upper portion of the horse’s stomach.
Here is the basic problem: the upper portion of the horse’s stomach is not built to handle acid. It lacks the natural protective lining that the lower portion has. Under normal circumstances, it maintains a relatively neutral pH. But during exercise, the physical compression of the stomach causes acidic fluid to splash upward into that unprotected upper region and if that happens repeatedly, ulcers develop. The prevalence numbers are striking: during active training, squamous disease has been reported in up to 100 percent of Thoroughbred racehorses.
The conventional wisdom has been that feeding hay before exercise creates a kind of fiber buffer inside the stomach that reduces the acid splash effect. This has been shown to work in horses at rest. What Bond’s study is designed to determine is whether it actually works during exercise, which is a meaningfully different physiological state and one where previous research methods have been unreliable.
The innovation in this study is the measurement tool. Rather than using the traditional nasogastric probe, whose position inside the stomach is uncertain and prone to shifting, Bond is using a wireless pH capsule originally developed for human medicine that attaches directly to the stomach lining and transmits continuous readings from a fixed, known location. This makes the data considerably more reliable than what previous research has been able to produce.
Horses in the study will be tested under three pre-exercise conditions: no feed, chaff, and hay, allowing direct comparison of how each protocol affects acid splash during actual work.
For every horse owner, trainer, and barn manager who has wondered whether that morning hay flake is really making a difference before a ride, this study is working toward a science-based answer.
The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation: A Leader in Equine Health
The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation is traditionally the nation’s leading source of equine research funding, supporting projects that enhance the health and safety of horses of all breeds. Its story is one of sustained scientific commitment, beginning more than eight decades ago and continuing to grow in scope and impact.
The foundation was established in the late 1930s by a group of horsemen who valued horses both for pleasure and as a practical part of life. They began pooling resources in 1939, and by 1940 were able to issue their first grant to the University of Pennsylvania. The foundation is named after Admiral Cary T. Grayson, who served as head of the American Red Cross, personal physician to President Woodrow Wilson, and owner of Blue Ridge Farm, home to several champion horses. In 1989, the foundation merged with the Jockey Club to become the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.
The organization’s financial contributions to the field are substantial. As of 2025, the foundation has authorized expenditure of nearly $2.7 million to fund 16 new projects and 10 continuing projects at 17 universities, along with two career development awards. This brings Grayson’s cumulative total since 1940 to more than $45.8 million to underwrite more than 466 projects at 50 universities.
A core principle of the foundation is that its work crosses breed and discipline lines. As President Jamie Haydon has stated, disease and illness do not discriminate between breeds or disciplines, all of Grayson’s research benefits all horses, not just Thoroughbreds, even though Thoroughbred industry leaders have traditionally provided much of the funding.
Each year, Grayson issues a call for proposals. Submissions come from veterinary researchers across the country on topics ranging from surgery to genetics to infectious disease. A 32-person review committee, made up of both private practitioners and academics, evaluates every proposal. Each project is assigned at least four reviewers (typically two from private practice and two from academia) ensuring both practical and theoretical perspectives are represented.
Notably, the foundation maintains no alliance with any one university, leaving it free to fund the best research regardless of where it takes place. It also does not pay principal investigators’ salaries or institutional overhead, directing dollars directly toward research activity itself. Accountability is expected: when one rotavirus study’s original vaccine approach proved unworkable, the investigators stopped the project, returned a portion of the funds, and resubmitted a revised proposal, which is exactly the kind of responsible stewardship the foundation requires.
The breadth of topics funded reflects the wide range of health challenges horses face. Research areas have included joint injuries, infectious disease, orthopedic surgery, genetics, and cardiac health. One prominent area of innovation is imaging technology. Grayson funded the first research project to perform PET scans on equine athletes in 2015, with additional funding following in 2019. This cutting-edge approach helps veterinarians identify difficult-to-locate sources of lameness, and at least 10 PET scan units are now installed across North America.
More recently, the foundation has taken a leading role in addressing sudden cardiac death in horses, one of the most complex and least understood challenges in equine medicine. Current efforts focus on advancing cardiac monitoring tools for earlier risk detection, supporting large-scale studies to identify patterns and underlying causes, and fostering collaboration among veterinarians, researchers, and industry leaders. One funded researcher, Dr. Annelies Decloedt at Ghent University, is evaluating Ketodoxapram, a novel pharmacological approach to treating atrial fibrillation in horses.
Beyond funding individual projects, Grayson invests in the future of equine research through career development awards. The Storm Cat Career Development Award and the Elaine and Bertram Klein Career award both provide $30,000 to individuals considering a career in equine research, helping ensure a pipeline of qualified scientists for decades to come.
Through consistent investment, rigorous peer review, and a breed-agnostic philosophy, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation has become an indispensable pillar of equine medicine. With a legacy of funding over 400 projects at 45 universities since 1983 and a commitment to scientifically validated research, the foundation’s mission to promote the health and soundness of all horses through innovative, long-term-impact research remains as vital today as when it began.
