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Is the way we feed and manage our horses making them sick?
The fact is that for most horses, these problems are not normal! And it’s only now that we’re really beginning to understand the role poor gut health plays in these issues.
What is gut health? Your horse’s gut has many roles, including: The digestion and absorption of feed; • Providing a barrier that will protect your horse from disease-causing pathogens, bacteria and toxins; and • Housing the trillions of bacteria that play a vital part in good digestion, immune function and behaviour. • And as we now know from human research, with its strong connection to the brain, the gut may play an even bigger role still.
What causes poor gut health? There are many factors that contribute to poor gut health:
What happens when gut health goes wrong? Stress, incorrect diet or poor feeding can cause problems such as: • Gastric ulcers - open wounds in the stomach • Hindgut acidosis – too much acid and a low pH in the hindgut • Bacterial imbalance – not enough good fibre-loving bacteria • Weight loss – without good fibre fermenting bacteria your horse can’t digest properly and will lose weight • Behavioural changes – B-vitamin deficiency and hormone imbalance can cause hyperactive or anxious behaviour • Leaky gut – the gut wall becomes damaged and allows bacteria, pathogens and toxins to enter your
Your horse’s gut consists of the foregut (oesophagus, stomach and small intestine) and the hindgut (cecum, large colon and small colon), and the term ‘gut health’ simply refers to how well the gut is working. 72 | H O R S E V I B E S M A R / A P R 2 0 2 0
Symptoms of poor gut health can be subtle, even when the problem is quite severe. Plus, each horse may show different signs for the same problem, making it difficult to pinpoint. However, some common symptoms include: • Picky eating or loss of appetite • Excessive girthiness • Uncharacteristically anxious or excitable behaviour, or changes in behaviour including cribbing • Weight loss or can’t gain weight • Recurrent, mild colic • Manure that smells acidic (vomit like) or is softer than normal • Scouring • Free fecal water (a discharge of watery manure) • Dull coat and/or poor hoof quality; and • Difficulty working to the right
As a horse owner, you may come up against problems like anxious behaviour, girthiness, laminitis, poor performance and weight challenges and accept them as ‘normal’ for your horses. But are they? And if they aren’t, what causes them?
Learning about the gut and the trillions of microbes it holds, and understanding its incredible potential to enhance or impede our horses’ behaviour, health, appearance and performance, is an exciting way forward for us as horse owners.
How do I know if my horse has poor gut health?
horse’s body This a big deal because the gut is a horse’s ‘engine’. If you want your horse to ‘work well’, you have to look after his gut!
• A low forage diet starves the good fibrefermenting bacteria and increases the risk of gastric ulcers • Feeding uncooked grains like barley or corn sends a lot of starch into the hindgut where it feeds the bad bacteria causing acid build up, hindgut acidosis, gut wall damage and when severe enough, laminitis. • Sudden changes in diet don’t allow your horse’s gut time to adapt, which can result in colic, and shifts in hindgut pH and bacterial populations. • Changed living arrangements often lead to stress, increasing the risk of gastric ulcers. • Stabling or long hours of stressful travel without feed disturbs normal gut health, increasing the risk of gastric ulcers and negatively impacting the hindgut bacteria. • Feeding big meals (particularly starch) causes the feed to travel through the small intestine too quickly, resulting in a starch overload in the hindgut where it feeds bad bacteria that then kill off good, fibre-fermenting bacteria. • Excess use of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs can increase the risk
