Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 04 of 12 – Gut Inflammation ( Moved to community.thehorsesadvocate.com )
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I have had my horses on the no grain diet for 2 months. They are so much easier to work with. The 17 year old had chronic shoe boils on his elbows. They are completely gone now! I would like to know what joint supplement you would recommend for him. The ones I was using have a lot of sugar in them. I have also started them back on Biovigor. What do you think of that supplement?
All joint supplements (glucosamine) are oligosaccharides (a sugar) which binds to the lectins of grains to prevent these joint inflammation makers from entering the body. In other words the “joint supplement” never enters the body but works within the gut. However if there are no inflammatory ingredients (grains and grain byproducts) then there is no need for joint supplements. Just send me the money you spent on them….
I do not know Biovigor and no longer look up every supplement people ask me about because the answer is always the same. If the gut microbes are normal and the gut inflammation is gone then the horse doesn’t need any supplements. The gut bacteria make all the vitamins and the minerals come from the water and mined salt. Healthy horses need no supplements.
My horse has Cushings and she was never fed grain. what else could have caused her PPID?
PPID is Pars Pituitary Intermedia Dysfunction. This is part of Cushing’s Disease where the hypothalamus sends a signal to the pituitary to send another signal (ACTH) to the adrenals to produce cortisol. The problem is that the signal from the hypothalamus to the pituitary is never received. A dopamine like drug is administered (pergolide) to stop the pituitary from producing ACTH which in turn decreases cortisol production from the adrenals.
It is my hypothesis that this is part of the protein deficiency and this deficiency stems from either an inadequate consumption of all the essential amino acids from a good quality protein or the decreased absorption from gut inflammation caused from grain, grain supplements, treats and even many medications.
With your horses never being fed grain you can rule out grain induced gut inflammation. This leaves inadequate broad spectrum amino acid availability in the diet which is common in poor pastures or pastures and hay of only one type of grass. Many horses have reported their ability to remove their horses from cushing’s medication after removing causes of gut inflammation and the addition of a good quality protein source such as soybean meal.
I stopped feeding grain to my two horses (ages 20 & 17) within a week of your first article. My quarter horse was always ‘girthy’ and the Tennessee Walker has shown signs of a weakening immune system for 3 years (coughs). I offered more hay this winter, added some soaked beet pulp (no sugars) and they are doing great – very little coughing and I’m pretty sure the flattening of the ears when saddling up is more a habit/bluff than hurting. No loss of top line or muscle overall. I had forgotten about the pure salt block and will get one this week. Thank you for the clear explanations.
Thanks for this testimonial! It will help others.
A very interesting and enlightening article. What types of food would you suggest horses be fed? Thanks, Janine
Pasture and hay, water, pure salt. If they show signs of protein deficiency (poor top line, loss of masseter muscle, poor hoof condition, lameness and connective tissue breakdowns, others) then after the gut is calm and healed (2 to 6 weeks) add a variety of protein.
It is that simple. Please read the articles on chronic protein deficiency to learn more and stay tuned because there will be more about this.
I really enjoy all of your blogs and articles; thank you for making this available. What are your thoughts on the low starch/low sugar high fat (typically oil) diet for EPSM /PSSM horses? It seems to make a dramatic difference for many horses that DNA test positive for PSSM1, and the diet aligns with much of your philosophy right up to the oil, but this high fat component is a crucial piece. Do you suggest another way to achieve the fat ratio for these horses, or do you have other thoughts on dietary management for documented PSSM1 horses, or are they an example of “the exception that proves the rule”?
Thanks again.
Polysaccharide storage myopathy or “tying up” has been found to be a DNA break where excess saccharides (sugars) will cause muscle cramping. The time tested low sugar / high fat diet works well on these horses.
What is now known is that certain oils are inflammatory to the gut and may cause gut leakage. While no one has done the study on this in horses, it is known that all vegetable oils in humans may be inflammatory. The idea behind feeding fats is discussed in the next blog where the 2 fuels (glucose and ketones) used in energy production are discussed. The goal in these horses is to reduce the glucose and increase the ketones.
The primary source of ketones is the breakdown of cellulose by the gut microbes into short chain fatty acids. The more cellulose fed, the more ketones produced. Unfortunately all pasture and hay have starch (glucose) which is not tolerated by horses with PSSM. Adding oil will increase the ketone production and will “cover up” the starch intake to a point. In humans, the 3 oils that seem to be noninflammatory are unspoiled olive oil, macadamia nut oil and avocado oil. Coconut oil is also very effective in providing ketones without inflammation but it has 6 fractions and 2 of them are inflammatory, 3 are not but need to be converted to ketones, and 1 is actually pure ketones. This said, I recommend coconut oil or even coconut meal for a fat source for horses as most do really well on it.
The bottom line is avoid globbing on cheap vegetable or corn oil especially if your horse shows signs of gut inflammation including developing fat pads. Consider olive oil or coconut oil instead.
Thank you so much for the good information. It really helps me understand how , all the companies are getting rich off us horse people. I am working toward being grain free. I have a 31 year old horse, will she do ok on soaked hay cubes?
She will do better without the grain but she may need more. I have more blogs coming but unfortunately, I want to go step by step teaching the why so changing will become easier for horse owners. How to do it will be coming.
Hi Marianne, I have a 32 yr. old who’s teeth were over filed and can not chew hay. I’ve been feeding him alfafa hay cubes which I know are bad for horses but you can’t get straight timothy cubes as far as I can see. I also give him senior feed via auto feeder every two hours because they are a grazing animals but I’ll need to switch him off of that slowly but the forage/grass pellets only come as alf/tim and are very hard. I hope Doc T touches on this also. I love reading his articles. Good luck with your older horse 🙂
I feel the opposite about alfalfa. In most horses alfalfa is a very good food but some do have a reaction to it (diarrhea, anxious), but most do well on it. At 32 years, if your horse likes alfalfa then keep feeding it.
All grains, on the other hand, will cause inflammation. But an important point needs to be made here. If an older horse is “doing well” on a senior feed and some hay cubes, then be careful changing anything especially in the winter. The first thing they do is lose body fat and the loss of muscle in the top line becomes very evident. This freaks out owners.
Auto feeding a starch source keeps the mitochondria working around the clock adding to their exhaustion. In humans, intermittent fasting really helps the mitochondria rest. This entails not eating for 16 to 18 hours and placing all food intake within a 6 to 8 hour window. In horses who are truly continuous eaters (no gall bladder, hypsodont teeth) I agree that they should have access to cellulose (pasture or hay) all the time. Pasture will have a limited amount of starch in the winter and hay will have a variable amount depending on the batch. But having access to a concentrated starch source loaded with lictin filled grain byproducts will just inflame the gut, promote leaky gut and disrupt the insulin system while exhausting the mitochondria.
This said, as I said in another reply, at 32 years, if he is doing OK with your system, be careful rocking the boat. Changing things now at his age may not give the desired results. Better to wait for pasture to appear and wean him off of grain then.
Thank you for the reply. My other horse (mare) who has chronic lyme disease and chronic founder was raised as a filly on alfafa and oats (straight) ..she has been a mess most of her life. I blamed the alfafa as I read from some experts “it’s not horse hay” Maybe it was the oats, who knows. She had only a seven year break with no issues and I was feeding organic oats and barley in very small quantities, grass hay and pasture. Maybe it the chemical that is sprayed on the grains before processing too. This lyme disease is horrible to connective tissue, she is almost 22 now and I want to get her feeling better. I appreciate you very much and I wish you lived close by. I would hire you! Have a great day 🙂
Thanks! By the way, in 1932 researchers studied children who were having excessive cavities in their teeth. They determined that it was their daily morning oatmeal causing it (lectins?). When this was removed and Vitamin D was added, their cavities either stopped developing or, in some, actually repaired. While whole oats have been fed to horses for years, the oats of today are probably not the oats of yesteryear due to GMO and farming yield practices.
Geoff: the best of the series so far. You have a truly remarkable way of explaining the complex in ways an ordinary mortal can comprehend: “Decomplexicating”. No doubt, every feed company and many pharmaceutical companies are grinding their teeth right now, but this should be posted in every horse barn in the world!!
So grateful for your comment here.
John is a friend of mine and is the owner of Freedom Health LLC which is the maker of SUCCEED© ( http://www.succeed-equine.com/ ). Every year I vow to put him out of business, but as long as people insist on feeding grain, John will continue making his amazing product for helping horses with colonic ulcers.
As I say in this blog, it is better to remove the cause than treat it. For those who disagree with this, get SUCCEED© today.