{"id":71045,"date":"2021-06-29T11:37:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T16:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/08b67ef4d4.nxcli.io\/?p=71045"},"modified":"2021-12-20T12:16:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T18:16:45","slug":"simple-solutions-for-equine-gut-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nouvelleresearch.com\/index.php\/articles\/71045-simple-solutions-for-equine-gut-health","title":{"rendered":"Simple Solutions for Equine Gut Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Gut health is one of the most important things in the horse, but often very easily overlooked.<\/strong> <\/em>It is one key contributor to everything from colic and loose stools, to allergies and joint issues.\u00a0 Some horse owners realize and understand the importance of gut health and make efforts to create balance, while others do not.\u00a0 Gut health is really not that complicated in the horse.\u00a0 In truth, we tend to focus on the wrong remedies and approaches instead of the problem at hand.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\r\n

\"Simple
Simple Solutions for Gut Health in the Horse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

Almost every aspect of equine health and lameness is impacted by gut health.\u00a0 \u00a0It can be obvious, as in loose stools, excess gas, or a history of colic.\u00a0 Or in other cases, not so obvious, as in equine allergies, joint dysfunction, metabolic syndrome, hoof health, and even tendon injuries in the horse.\u00a0 The gut and digestive health is a key player in the horse.<\/p>\r\n

The gut in your horse impacts:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  • Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients<\/li>\r\n
  • Chronic inflammation<\/li>\r\n
  • Immune compromise<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n

    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.\u00a0 This microbiome is impacted by all sorts of factors from diet, to lifestyle, to stress, medications, and other concurrent health or lameness problems.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\r\n

    If you think about it, for the most part in any equine health or lameness condition, you are contending with the process of inflammation<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This inflammatory process has to start somewhere in your horse.\u00a0 It’s like a wild fire.\u00a0 It had to start somewhere and in most cases, based on research, this starting point is the gut.<\/p>\r\n

    “What happens in the\u00a0 horse’s gut does not stay in the gut!”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n

    Then, in addition to this chronic inflammatory response, your horse is often contending with malabsorption<\/strong><\/em> issues which reflect compromised digestion.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This means that tissues in your horse’s body may not mend or heal properly, such as tendons, ligaments, hoof conditioning, and wounds.\u00a0 Your horse needs these nutrients to keep cells functioning and repairing.<\/p>\r\n

    Wonder why many horses require 6 months or longer to mend an injured tendon?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

    One last key point to mention is your horse’s immune response<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Your horse’s immune response is directly involved in chronic thrush and white line conditions.\u00a0 It is also directly involved in allergies, uveitis (moon-blindness), and failure of tendons or ligaments to fully mend.<\/p>\r\n

    \u00a0Simple Solutions for Optimal Equine Gut Health<\/h3>\r\n

    Gut health is not that complicated to be honest.\u00a0 It is all about the microbiome and keeping it happy and balanced.\u00a0 There are good bacteria and there are bad.\u00a0 There must be a balance for health and soundness in the horse.\u00a0 Do one thing and you encourage ‘bad’ bacteria.\u00a0 Do another and you encourage the ‘good’ bacteria.\u00a0 It may seem complicated but in truth, it isn’t.\u00a0 We are just manipulated into thinking otherwise.<\/p>\r\n

    If you think of the microbiome as being ‘seeds’, then it becomes easier to understand.\u00a0 One of the biggest pushes in equine health is the use of probiotics.\u00a0 While there may be some research to indicate benefits, I have found very little value.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The soil I refer to is the environment within your horse’s digestive system, impacted by the pH, bacterial balance, toxin accumulation and inflammation.\u00a0 Try to plant seeds in that environment and more than likely you will fail.<\/p>\r\n

    What’s the solution?\u00a0 Modify the environment.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

    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.\u00a0 If the bad bacteria outnumber the good, then feed the good and the situation will change.\u00a0 In addition, it is helpful to modify that environment so the good can prosper even further.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This need not take months or years to accomplish, but your horse’s gut can shift back towards balance within a few days.<\/p>\r\n

    First key approach<\/strong> for gut health in the horse involves addressing the inflammatory response and impacting the microbiome.\u00a0 This is a ‘one-step’ approach and involves the use of the EQ Tri-GUT<\/a><\/strong> formula which is composed of three simple herbs (Triphala).\u00a0 This is a cheap and effective means of modifying the inflammatory response not just in the gut of your horse but throughout his body.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 In addition, the herbal blend in the EQ Tri-GUT has antibiotic properties to an extent and aids in reducing ‘bad’ bacterial numbers.\u00a0 It also has a natural prebiotic property, which then encourages ‘good’ bacteria in your horse’s digestive system.<\/p>\r\n

    Second key approach<\/strong> for gut health in the horse involves the provision of prebiotics.\u00a0 In most instances, good prebiotics are forms of fiber, which serve as fuel for ‘good’ bacteria.\u00a0 When you feed these ‘good’ bacteria, then their numbers increase in relation to the ‘bad’.\u00a0 In addition, as the good bacteria increase in numbers, the gut environment in your horse changes, which further discourages ‘bad’ bacteria from thriving.\u00a0 I like insoluble fiber and fiber from herb roots, like Turmeric root.\u00a0 The EQ Pro-GUT<\/a><\/strong> is an excellent and very simple means of providing both of these prebiotics.\u00a0 In this blend, we offer 55% insoluble apple pectin fiber, which directly serves as a powerful prebiotic.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\r\n

    There we have two very simple, effective and inexpensive approaches to gut health in your horse.\u00a0<\/strong> They can be added to any regimen, given once or twice daily.\u00a0 \u00a0Whether 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.<\/p>\r\n

    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.<\/p>\r\n

    Additional articles:<\/p>\r\n

      \r\n
    1. Topline, conditioning, and gut health in the horse<\/a><\/li>\r\n
    2. Equine fecal water syndrome and loose stools<\/a><\/li>\r\n
    3. Rebalancing digestion in the horse<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

       <\/p>\r\n

      Author:\u00a0 Tom Schell, D.V.M, CVCH, CHN<\/p>\r\n

      \r\n

      Cur-OST EQ Tri-GUT<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n