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VETERINARY VIEWS
MINIMIZING THE SWEET IN HORSE FEED by Nancy S. Loving, DVM
It’s a popular idea that the way to provide your horse with energy and extra calories is by feeding grain. However, the field of equine science has shown us that grain is not all it’s cracked up to be, particularly when it comes to equine intestinal health.
To understand how your horse’s intestinal tract extracts nutrients, consider that horses, as herbivore grazers, evolved to eat fibrous plants. The hindgut acts like a huge fermentation
vat where intestinal microbes digest high-
fiber forage sources, such as hay and pasture, referred to as “structural” carbohydrates or sugars. Microbial fermentation of fibrous plant cellulose produces energy-rich volatile fatty acids (VFAs) used to fuel many metabolic functions, body condition, the immune system, and musculoskeletal actions. Plants provide another energy-rich source of sugars and starches referred to as non-structural
The hindgut acts like a fermentation vat where intestinal microbes digest high-fiber forage sources like hay and pasture, referred to as “structural” carbohydrates or sugars.
carbohydrates, or NSC, which fuel other important body functions. For example, the brain and hooves thrive on glucose while the joint constituent, glucosamine, is made of sugar components. Fructan is a common NSC sugar stored in plant leaves and stalks while starch is stored in plant seed heads, or grains.
DIGESTION LOGISTICS
Forage is the mainstay of your horse’s dietary needs. After a horse consumes a
Forage should be the mainstay of your horse’s dietary needs. After a horse consumes a high-fiber meal, blood glucose circulates at steady, even levels.
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