How Probiotics for Horses May Aid Digestion
This excellent article on probiotics for horses, written by Joanne Meszoly, appeared in the December, 2014 issue of EQUUS. Since it answers many of the questions I receive, I hope you will find it informative.
“So your horse is already a poster boy for healthy eating. He spends most of his time turned out in an immaculately kept pasture, enjoying a diet long on fibrous grass or hay, and short on grain. You administer his deworming paste well-timed to eliminate a potential parasite threat before he suffers any damage. Even so, he’s had one mild bellyache, and you want to do everything in your power to make sure he doesn’t colic again. In such cases, you may want to investigate the holistic nutritional supplements known as “probiotics.”
Probiotics, meaning “for life” are live bacteria cultures, believed to restore or enhance the natural flora in the gut. In other words, probiotics increase the number of food-processing bugs present in the gut and improve efficiency. When prescribing antibiotics — which can upset digestion by killing off beneficial intestinal bacteria along with pathogens elsewhere in the body — some veterinarians suggest giving probiotics.
“If you give a horse an antibiotic to fight infection, you can change the balance of the bacteria in the gut,” says Joyce Harman, DVM, MRCVS of the Harmany Equine Clinic in Washington, Va. “The good bacteria will repopulate but in the case of a horse with a weak immune system, sometimes the bacteria won’t repopulate without some help.” ….
…”If your horse requires less food, if his coat is better and if his manure appears to have more thoroughly digested food in it,” says Harman, “those are signs that he’s more comfortable.” – See more at: http://equusmagazine.com/article/eqprobiotic041304-8188#sthash.MQEgaG0I.dpuf EQUUS/300x250_Article
Yea-Sacc 1026, is a live yeast culture, scientifically proven to provide the results that Joyce Harman mentions. You will find it easy to add to your feed, and most horses eat it readily.
