Diseases
Common illness
Complete nutrition regarding the most common illnesses in horses
In this regard we should be more concerned with general wellbeing, healthy bodily function and immune system support on an appropriate diet than anything else.
The media has been reporting for quite some time about allergies and all sorts of metabolic problems, as well as laminitis, EMS, etc.
The more we read about such problems, the more we need to ask ourselves if we are looking at possible dietary induced illness, “Are we killing our horses with kindness”?
This question is justified because a horse in his natural environment is an almost perfectly functioning organism which knows how to assist itself in times of need.
About 80% of all illnesses are caused by inappropriate diets. Every organism is built by nutritional means, and this nutrition is responsible for development, regeneration and immune system.
Every time we knowingly or unknowingly manipulate the system (i. e. by feeding inappropriately), the system can easily be derailed. The answer comes sooner or later in the form of deficiencies or illnesses which sometimes are deferred, as to make us unsure of the causes.
Before we ask about the feed we should also ask about how a horse digests his food and how the digestive system is constructed.
This is often an uncomfortable question for many feedstuff manufactures, as it is often counterproductive to profit oriented corporate policy.
Over thousands of years the horse has changed somewhat in his appearance but the digestive function and organic function have remained the same.
The natural eating habits of a horse have also remained the same.
Nature has designed to the horse to be an “all day eater”, as horses out in wild will eat for maybe 16 – 18 hours a day.
The digestive tract is functionally dependent upon a constant supply of crude fibre, not concentrates (hard feed). The jaws and the teeth are so constructed to chew grasses rather than grains.
Humans produce gastric acid at meal times, but horses produce gastric acid continuously. This is why a constant supply of forage is necessary, in order to keep gastric acid concentrations at a level not harmful to the horse. Most importantly, the sodium bicarbonate created by the production of saliva, is that which suppresses gastric acid levels.
- When eating hard feed (concentrates etc.) the horse produces about 1 litre of saliva per kg ingested.
- When eating hay, the more intensive chewing process produces about 5 litres of saliva per kg of hay. Gastric acid is diluted to required levels and gastric ulcers are avoided. Basically, the more the horse chews, the less harmful gastric acid levels will be. Simultaneously the intestinal flora in the caecum and large intestine are retained (they live on cellulose or pectin). On a forage based diet we don`t just feed the horse but also the necessary friendly bacteria in the intestine.
- Food is ingested orally and is broken down by the chewing process and is soaked in saliva. This helps the food turn into a kind of mash which slides along and simultaneously the surface of the nutrition is enlarged for the “attack” of digestive enzymes and digestive bacteria. The process is made easier and more efficient when the food has been chewed well.
- At the front of the stomach there is, as far as possible, a basic PH value. Easily digestible starches and little protein would be microbial digested here.
- As this nutritional mash makes its way from the front towards the rear of the stomach it enters an acid bath. Bacteria and germs are killed off here. This is where enzymatic digestion begins; the carbohydrates and proteins are pre-digested and prepared for further digestive processes in the small intestine. It takes between 1 and 5 hours for the mash to reach the small intestine.
- In the small intestine there is only enzymatic digestion. The bile salt from the liver and pancreas enzymes start working. Mono sugars are sent via the intestinal wall to the portal vein. Should more complex starches appear, for example those found in oats, a further enzyme, amylase, jumps into action. Amylase breaks down complex sugars / starches, which are released through the intestinal wall. It is counterproductive large quantities of starch (concentrates) because the sugars need between 60 and 90 min. To pass through the small intestine and secondly the digestive enzyme amylase is limited. Therefore digestive capacity could be limited.
- Furthermore it is senseless to feed indigestible starches like untreated barley or maize, because amylase cannot split he complex sugars effectively. Starches from untreated barley are approx. 23% digestible and those from maize approx. 28% in the small intestine. This is why people think that oats will drive a horse wild, because oats has about 200% more free and fast energy from starches, per KG, than barley which only releases about 30% energy from available starch. 5 KG of barley will definitely lead to digestive problems because of poor digestibility. However 5 Kg of oats would lead to an explosion in performance terms. This process should be completed before the mash moves over to the caecum, because the caecum has a different digestive system.
- In the caecum microorganisms or bacteria take command digest remaining carbohydrates, pectin and celluloses. The caecum is like a large fermentation chamber where bacteria deal with nutrients and also with starches. Large amounts of starch should not be allowed to enter the caecum as it is limited in its capacity relative to starch. The result would be an over acidic intestinal content and a milieu would be created which would kill off the friendly bacteria. This in turn limits the digestive capacity of the caecum and large intestine and simultaneously the dying remains of friendly bacteria (Endotoxins) cause terrible problems. This can lead to anything from metabolic disorders to liver problems or indeed to laminitis.
- The large intestine begins with the colon. The digestive process in the large intestine is also assisted by friendly bacteria, similar to the caecum. The large intestine completes the process of the caecum and digests the remaining nutrition. Possible protein rests will be broken down by protein splitting enzymes of micro-organisms and passed through the intestinal wall. These microorganisms in the caecum and large intestine also digest important crude fibres (cellulose) for the horse.
Conclusion:
Because of the way the digestive system is made the horse is not able to digest large quantities of feed which is high in starch. Tests carried out, relative to high performance feeding; show that it is counterproductive more than 200 gr. per 100 KG bodyweight, per mealtime. Please note that these are maximum levels and we should aim to keep below these levels at all times. Also digestive capacity of the stomach and the small intestine, in the area of enzymatic digestion, is completely overstressed. Sugars which are hard to digest, like those found in barley or maize, should be avoided because, flooding the caecum with starches will have negative results for the friendly bacteria found there. These bacteria which are difficult to replace, are so important to the digestive processes in the caecum and large intestine. It could result in colic or metabolic problems. A horse out in the wild (in his ferval state) lives on a forage based diet, this means hay or grasses. Grain rations should be given only when needed and in appropriate quantities, relative to exercise and bodyweight.