What do Salad and Equine Digestive Health have in common?

Not much, other than I attended a SmartPak Webinar while munching on a salad for lunch.

 All in all, the webinar covered a lot of things that are –or should be- common knowledge, i.e. the importance of turnout, regular feedings, etc.

Here are the key points that I found interesting:

- Horses are hindgut fermentors, which means the fiber is fermented in the hindgut (large intestine)

-        As non-ruminant herbivores, horses are designed to graze 17 hours per day and need at least 1% of the body weight (or 50% of total ration) per day as forage

-     Horses salivate 5 – 10 liters per day, the saliva is very alkaline

-        The stomach is the “holding and mixing tank” and has a size of 2 – 4 gallons, food stays between 30 min. and 12 hours, the average transit time is between 2 – 4 hours. The horse has the smallest stomach in relation to size of all animals

-        The esophagus is 4 – 5 ft long and a “one way street”, no vomiting. Contrary to what a lot of people think, a choke is not an airway obstruction, it is caused by feed lodged in the esophagus

-        The small intestine is 70 ft long and the main function is “Digestion”

-        The large intestine (hindgut) consists of Cecum (4 ft long), and the colon (20 -24 feet). The total transit time is 35 – 50 hours

Important to consider:

-        Hoses produce 10 – 30 liters of gastric acid per day for the chemical breakdown of food. If there is too much time between meals the gastric acid erodes the stomach lining and can cause ulcers
-        Minimize levels of NSC (Non-structural carbohydrates = sugars and starches)
-        Hay in the winter is crucial to keep horses warm, the fermentation of hay creates body heat
-        It is VERY IMPORTANT to make feed changes gradually, that also pertains to hay
-        90% of racehorses and 60% of active show horses have gastric ulcers
-        Colic in horses causes more deaths than any other diseases
-        To prevent colic horses must have small, frequent meals, with hay or forage always available

Considering the above our boys are having a good chance of digestive health based on our feeding program. And… so should I, for that matter: I’m a fellow herbivore with a penchant for salads. If only I could figure out how to get my digestive system to keep me warm in the winter – hay, anyone?!