A gut feeling
Being more aware of the factors affecting your horse’s digestive health will help you keep him feeling his best, says Kate Hore
There’s no skirting around the fact that the equine digestive system is complex. Yet, our domestic horses live a very different life from the one their bodies have been designed for. To keep everything working as it should, we need to try to adopt as many of their natural behavioural patterns as we can through our management practices – or run the risk of causing some avoidable upset.
With the potential to affect all aspects of your horse’s wellbeing – from his mood and behaviour to his skin and respiratory health – his digestive system really is the key to happiness. So, let’s take a look at the staples for keeping his gut healthy.
All about anatomy
Photos: Bob Atkins, Jon Stroud. With thanks to NAF for their help with this feature, naf-equine.eu/uk/
The gut in action
Horses are described as hindgut fermenters. This means that they have a small, simple stomach and the majority of the digestive process takes place within the hindgut. This design is ideal for horses, as their diet is based on tough, fibrous feeding material that benefits from a second chance to digest in the hindgut after its initial passage through the stomach. It does this through microbial fermentation.
All animals, ourselves included, rely hugely on microbes for general vitality and healthy digestion, but that’s even more important in animals like horses who have an immense microbiome in their hindguts.