Equestrian Days -Understanding the Digestive System for the Beginner Horse Owner

From Your First Horse to Your First Foal

Understanding The Digestive System for the Beginner Horse Owner
By Sue Mueller

For a new horse owner, understanding the ins
and out of equine nutrition can be mind boggling.

Perhaps it would be helpful to first understand
the digestive system of the horse and thereby
gain better knowledge on how to provide proper care.

The horse has a single stomach, which makes it
a cecal-fermenting monogastric. This means that
forage, fermentation with hay and grasses, takes
place inside the large intestine and the cecum.
This is why they are continuous grazers.

Horses require unlimited access to forage.
They don't eat separate meals but instead
function at full capacity when small amounts,
especially forages are consumed throughout the day.

Because a horse's digestive tract can only handle
small amounts of feed at a time, it is typical
to give only about 5 pounds of grain per
feeding per 1,000 of animal.

When a horse takes in food, either grain or
forage, it passes through the esophagus
into the stomach, and then on to the small intestine.

It next travels to the cecum and here microorganisms living inside the gut ferment the feed. The majority of forage digestion takes place here.

The horse cecum is basically a fermentation vat.
Because it is an anaerobic system, it functions
without oxygen. To properly perform their function, the microbes must continually feed, therefore it is important to have fuel on a frequent basis. Horses do this as a natural process of grazing.

However, when a horse doesn't eat adequate
amounts of forage or an excess of cereal
grains (starch), microbes begin to die,
which disrupts the fermentation process and
causes an upset stomach more commonly known as colic.

Feeding a horse too much grain at one time lowers the PH and causes acidosis, killing the microbes. Colic is the most common problem for horses today, and it is also the No.1 cause of death.

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Mature horses should be fed diets that
consist of more pounds of forage (hay or pasture) than grain. Horses do not have any dietary requirement for cereal grains such as oats, corn or barley, but they do require forage and lots of it.

Unfortunately, most new horse owners base their
knowledge on pre-conceived ideas or old information. They perceive forage as a less important part of a balanced diet and rank grain as more important.

Recent research has validated forage as a nutritional priority. Quality of hay is just as important as quantity.

To do a general test of hay quality, crumble a handful to check its texture. If it is course and hurts your hand, it is poor quality. Since 80 percent of the nutrients are in their leaves, choose hay with a high leaf to stem ratio. If you prefer a more technical testing method,
you can get a hay analysis to find the hay's exact ADF or acid detergent fiber content. An ADF of 35 percent or less is the preferred.

In conclusion, the old adage of 2 slabs of
hay per day, one in the morning and one at night, has gone by the wayside. Horses need free choice access to good quality hay or pasture at all times. It is not uncommon to see pastured horses grazing by the light of the moon at 1:30 or 2 am. Consult a local feed representative whom you trust for help
in balancing your horses' nutritional needs. And as in any consulting method, get several opinions.

An educated horse owner who understands this basic physiology of the horse has a better chance of alleviating troublesome digestive problems in the future.

To your Success,
Sue Mueller
http://www.ThePowerJuice.com

Sue Mueller is a freelance writer
who lives with her veterinarian husband
on a grass-fed cattle ranch
in southern Wisconsin. She shares her
passion for Alternative Health through
her home business.

Visit Sue's "NetHome on the Range"
http://www.SueMueller.com

Learn more about Tahitian Noni Juice
and it's benefits for horses here:
http://www.HorsePowerJuice.com