Gut health is one of the most important things in the horse, but often very easily overlooked. It is one key contributor to everything from colic and loose stools, to allergies and joint issues. Some horse owners realize and understand the importance of gut health and make efforts to create balance, while others do not. Gut health is really not that complicated in the horse. In truth, we tend to focus on the wrong remedies and approaches instead of the problem at hand. Here are two simple solutions which can go a long way in the horse to help restore gut balance, digestion, impact inflammation, and even improve joint function.
Almost every aspect of equine health and lameness is impacted by gut health. It can be obvious, as in loose stools, excess gas, or a history of colic. Or in other cases, not so obvious, as in equine allergies, joint dysfunction, metabolic syndrome, hoof health, and even tendon injuries in the horse. The gut and digestive health is a key player in the horse.
The gut in your horse impacts:
- Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
- Chronic inflammation
- Immune compromise
When your horse's gut is not working optimally, this generally indicates that there is an imbalance of the bacteria present within the digestive system, referred to as the microbiome. This microbiome is impacted by all sorts of factors from diet, to lifestyle, to stress, medications, and other concurrent health or lameness problems. When the digestive microbiome is out of balance in your horse, then his or her health is also impaired as the gut is connected literally with everything. Thus, when you fail to properly address gut health in your horse, it can equate to problems lingering for months or years, or lead to an increased susceptibility to problems.
If you think about it, for the most part in any equine health or lameness condition, you are contending with the process of inflammation. This chronic inflammation may be contributing to pain and joint deterioration, but it is also creating cellular signaling problems which lead to conditions like metabolic syndrome, Cushing's disease, and even impact healing. This inflammatory process has to start somewhere in your horse. It's like a wild fire. It had to start somewhere and in most cases, based on research, this starting point is the gut.
"What happens in the horse's gut does not stay in the gut!"
Then, in addition to this chronic inflammatory response, your horse is often contending with malabsorption issues which reflect compromised digestion. What this means is that in many cases, despite feeding a high-quality diet and loads of vitamins and minerals, your horse is often not digesting that food properly and absorption of nutrients is reduced. This means that tissues in your horse's body may not mend or heal properly, such as tendons, ligaments, hoof conditioning, and wounds. Your horse needs these nutrients to keep cells functioning and repairing.
Wonder why many horses require 6 months or longer to mend an injured tendon?
One last key point to mention is your horse's immune response. His immune response is not just important to protect against infections and colds, but it is a key contributor to healing of wounds and damaged tissues. Your horse's immune response is directly involved in chronic thrush and white line conditions. It is also directly involved in allergies, uveitis (moon-blindness), and failure of tendons or ligaments to fully mend.
Simple Solutions for Optimal Equine Gut Health
Gut health is not that complicated to be honest. It is all about the microbiome and keeping it happy and balanced. There are good bacteria and there are bad. There must be a balance for health and soundness in the horse. Do one thing and you encourage 'bad' bacteria. Do another and you encourage the 'good' bacteria. It may seem complicated but in truth, it isn't. We are just manipulated into thinking otherwise.
If you think of the microbiome as being 'seeds', then it becomes easier to understand. One of the biggest pushes in equine health is the use of probiotics. While there may be some research to indicate benefits, I have found very little value. In truth, even if the probiotic you were using were of high quality and of significant dosing, you are attempting to plant seeds into a toxic soil. The soil I refer to is the environment within your horse's digestive system, impacted by the pH, bacterial balance, toxin accumulation and inflammation. Try to plant seeds in that environment and more than likely you will fail.
What's the solution? Modify the environment.
Prebiotics are the key and are essentially food substrates which are utilized as fuel by most of the good bacteria in your horse's gut. If the bad bacteria outnumber the good, then feed the good and the situation will change. In addition, it is helpful to modify that environment so the good can prosper even further. Over time, your horse's gut will move back towards balance as long as other factors are reduced or removed which are contributing to the problem. This need not take months or years to accomplish, but your horse's gut can shift back towards balance within a few days.
First key approach for gut health in the horse involves addressing the inflammatory response and impacting the microbiome. This is a 'one-step' approach and involves the use of the EQ Tri-GUT formula which is composed of three simple herbs (Triphala). This is a cheap and effective means of modifying the inflammatory response not just in the gut of your horse but throughout his body. EQ Tri-GUT benefits all types of inflammation from gut to joint and back pain, because the gut is involved in each of these conditions. In addition, the herbal blend in the EQ Tri-GUT has antibiotic properties to an extent and aids in reducing 'bad' bacterial numbers. It also has a natural prebiotic property, which then encourages 'good' bacteria in your horse's digestive system.
Second key approach for gut health in the horse involves the provision of prebiotics. In most instances, good prebiotics are forms of fiber, which serve as fuel for 'good' bacteria. When you feed these 'good' bacteria, then their numbers increase in relation to the 'bad'. In addition, as the good bacteria increase in numbers, the gut environment in your horse changes, which further discourages 'bad' bacteria from thriving. I like insoluble fiber and fiber from herb roots, like Turmeric root. The EQ Pro-GUT is an excellent and very simple means of providing both of these prebiotics. In this blend, we offer 55% insoluble apple pectin fiber, which directly serves as a powerful prebiotic. In addition, there is spent turmeric root fiber in combination, to provide both soluble and insoluble fiber and even impact inflammation to a mild extent due to residual curcumin present.
There we have two very simple, effective and inexpensive approaches to gut health in your horse. They can be added to any regimen, given once or twice daily. Whether if you are contending directly with gut complaints in your horse, or secondary consequences, I can almost completely assure you that if you address gut health completely, the problems will become much easier to manage.
The gut in the horse is easy to overlook, but this tendency to ignore it just may be the reason why we seem to have so many health and soundness problems.
Additional articles:
- Topline, conditioning, and gut health in the horse
- Equine fecal water syndrome and loose stools
- Rebalancing digestion in the horse
Author: Tom Schell, D.V.M, CVCH, CHN