Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 03 of 12 – Gut Microbes ( Moved to community.thehorsesadvocate.com )
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Oh boy, knowledge is power, also knowledge leads to “OMGosh am I a good microbe farmer?” I needed to fertilize and weed kill my pasture today. I now have a furrow between my eyes wondering if the weed kill is also killing gut flora? Tomorrow starts a 5-7 day rain system moving through. Keeping the horses off the pasture for 18 hours. Gives the spray a chance to dry and absorb over night. Rain should start around 3:AM. Horses usually have access to 12 acres 20 hours a day, mopey faces in the barn. Also Knowledge helps you make small adjustment for improvement, even if it isn’t perfect. Sandspurs or weed kill. I chose weed kill. sorry Flora!
This is often a difficult decision especially when our pastures are limited in size. Because of the limited nature of the grasses the normal defense mechanisms of the grasses are removed, hence the weed invasions. Nobody wants to use chemicals these days and would rather go “natural” yet there is nothing “natural” about fences and seeding pastures with a limited flora. The same goes for parasite control, diet, exercise etc. We all make the difficult decisions you made, but then after choosing a weed killer, they add sugar in grains, fly control, and unneeded medications. Yikes! In my mind, choosing the battles in horse care, politics, relationships is all about compromise. All we can do is the best we can 🙂
Compromise… you said it Doc T!
3 years ago, my Mare managed to get a sand spur in her eye, as you know eyes do not heal well in the heat of the summer. Lucky for us, it went well, it was exhausting to medicate her eye every 3 hours day and night, for 3 weeks.
I weed kill 1 time a year. Because of all the knowledge you share, my small adjustment was to keep them off the pasture until after the first rain fall. Next year I was thinking I should give them Wormer, at the same time I weed kill. Thus disrupting the gut, one less time per year.
I worm every 4 months or 3 times a year plus weed kill, so that is 4 known times a yr, of disrupting the Flora. Sounds like a lot, and it makes me feel like they will never truly have a healthy gut.
This leads me to ask, what is your opinion on feeding a probiotic after you knowingly disrupt the gut?
My view on probiotics is evolving. I never really believed in them but would eat a yogurt to settle an upset stomach. Currently there is evidence that the addition of foreign cultures on a regular basis into an individual’s gut microbiota actually can overrun the normal gut flora.
According to some human functional doctors, using prescription strength probiotics encapsulated to avoid the killing effect of the stomach acid may be beneficial in humans. On the other hand, a company called Viome that tests the flora of human manure states that they never find any bacteria that have been introduced as a probiotic. They say probiotics are useless because they are all killed.
Who is right? I’m not sure but I know for certain that if they don’t know the answer in human medicine then there certainly is no basis for giving probiotics to horses – because there is no research. It is just marketing once again. I would love to see some good research on this but it probably won’t happen as the word “good” precludes any agenda driven research.
Hi,
I have two horses that have been fed commercial feeds for years and yerasthen straight oats for about a month in Dec 17/Jan 18 and now on complete forage (Feb/Mar 2018) (bermuda hay and timothy/alfalfa pellets). How long does it take to restore the gut microbes?
I switched all supplemental feed to pellets when I learned my 18 year old horse had EORTH…and after reading your website about EORTH, I made the switch. My second horse has been challenged with IR for last 5-7 years. He has not foundered but is heavy with atypical fat pads. Local vet scored him 9 last two years. He is on Rx for thyroid replacement which for a 14 months now with no significant change in BCS. Since on all forage, he is starting to present better plus I have made it a priority to work him moderately for 20 minutes every day that I can. Since 3/12/2018, when I started tracking his moderate exercise, I have exercised him 75% of the days.
So now, I am wondering how long before the microbes are restored and IF i need to do anything beyond switching to all forage?
Thank you. Lynne
Every horse has a unique genetic code depending on his or her ancestry. Add to this the sugar content of the hay / pasture and it becomes hard to say exactly when the gut microbes are restored. A rule of thumb would be 6 weeks if all is well but this can change with different hay or the introduction of spring pasture. What I can say for sure is that if you feed your horse anything other than hay and pasture then the gut microbes will never return to a normal population.
Excellent read and thank goodness the horse community is waking up to gut health. Looking forward to your next articles!
Excellent article — after reading the previous articles and the references you’ve made to protein, I’m seeing the bigger picture about what is best for my horse.
Hi Doc T. I’m reading this series with interest and I wonder how the food value of hay is changed by soak it. I’m following my vet’s advice to soak the grass hay I am feeding for at least an hour to reduce sugars for a horse that had laminitis triggered by equine metabolic syndrome. I would like to know your thoughts. Keep up the good work!
soaking hay in hot water for 30 minutes will dramatically reduce the sugar content to less than half. cold water takes a little longer with the same results.
I have a Sr horse here (age is undetermined) but close to 30. Over the past 2 summers when put back onto hay he got the squirts. Then it became the normal state of his being. He is healthy and weight is good, teeth are good, they are checked every 6 months, he has cushings and is medicated accordingly. I tried your no grain approach for 3 weeks as you suggested.
The only sweet he got was a small piece of apple for the pill. His manure looks good and solid. It is hard to tell if he still has the squirts as prior manure is frozen on his tail and I can’t really determine if there is new material on it. Overall though, I would say things look good. I have a 29 year old gelding, and two 17 year old horses as well. The others don’t have issues with their manure. All get the same food, lots of hay in hay nets, and twice a day a 1/2 bucket of soaked alfalfa/timothy cubes, optimal for mineral supplement (hay in Ontario Canada was terrible this year), a scoop of pure yeast and ground flax mixed. Free service loose white stock salt in buckets. Mine live outside 24/7/365 and all do well on that easy diet. Thanks for your articles.
When the weather turns frigid here in PA we start to feed haylage. Since when the temps get above 40° it starts to ferment, I have to believe the good bacteria in my horses gut are over joyed at this time of winter. Although my horses look like a bunch of guys standing around at the bar on Friday night…. LOL