Myth or fact

NATURAL INGREDIENTS ARE ALWAYS BETTER

Myth

The word “natural” implies quality. But does it really mean that? We’re all unconsciously drawn to the word “natural”. But are natural ingredients always better than non-natural ones?

As the name says, natural ingredients come from nature. Think of herbs, essential oils, or certain vitamins. But feeds may also contain many substances that are created in laboratories. These non-natural substances are called synthetic substances. Did you know that, in many cases, the equine body can’t tell the difference between natural and synthetic substances? Vitamins, for example. When a synthetic vitamin is identical to a natural one, it makes no difference if that vitamin came from a plant or from a lab. The molecules are identical and have exactly the same effect. There is also often no difference in how the body absorbs it. Another advantage of synthetic vitamins is their tolerance to environmental conditions. Synthetic vitamins are, for example, less sensitive to temperature differences, moisture, air, and pH values. At Cavalor, we choose nutrients that provide optimum stability and digestibility. We find that it is more important to judge a nutrient by its effectiveness than to choose solely based on its origins.

XPE ask ThE T

The question

“My horse had colic surgery. He came through well, but he’s lost a lot of weight. He had to fast for several days due to a wound infection with resistant gut bacteria and was on antibiotics for a few weeks. He is 1.84 m (18h) and putting weight on him has proven difficult. How can we get him back to a healthy weight? And what can I do to get him healthy again?”

– Owner: Jasmijn de Bruijn, owner of Jip, Netherlands The advice

It may well be that the surgery, the antibiotics, and the fasting all had effects on your horse’s gut health. The gut plays an essential role in digestion and the absorption of nutrients. Your horse’s gut, and especially the millions of bacteria that live there, were affected by the colic surgery. So, it’s imperative to restore that balance for good gut health. A key factor in restoring your horse’s gut health is fiber. The bacteria living in the large intestine needs fiber to thrive, and they don’t like sugar or starch. The foundation of a good feed ration is plenty of roughage! We also recommend feeding your horse Cavalor FiberForce for at least six weeks. Cavalor FiberForce is high in fiber (25%) and low in sugar (3%) and starch (5%). This high-fiber, low-sugar and low-starch concentrate feed is ideal for restoring and maintaining good gut health. Cavalor FiberForce helps the gut to recover so that the horse can return to its normal weight. You can supplement it with 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) daily of Cavalor WholeGain for six to eight weeks after surgery to improve condition. WholeGain is a high-fat balancer made from rice bran and vegetable fats. This combination allows horses to bulk up quickly and easily. It also contains lots of vitamins and minerals. After two months you can phase out Cavalor WholeGain and continue with Cavalor FiberForce or a sport feed. Antibiotics have also caused your horse’s gut bacteria to become out of balance. This is because antibiotics not only kill off “bad” bacteria in the body, but they also go after the “good” bacteria. To re-establish the proper balance, we recommend a regimen of Cavalor VitaFlora after every course of antibiotics. This supplement contains prebiotics and probiotics to support the bacteria in the large intestine and therefore enhancing good gut health.

– Fien Demeyere, Nutritional Specialist at Cavalor

EVERY HORSE IS UNIQUE. EVERY HORSE HAS UNIQUE NEEDS. FEED YOUR HORSE ACCORDING TO ITS NEEDS. WOULD YOU LIKE A CONSULTATION REGARDING YOUR HORSE? THEN VISIT WWW.MYCAVALOR.COM OR CALL OUR CONSUMER LINE: +32(0)92202525.