Colic In Horses, Horse Digestive Problems, Grand Meadows

My name is Nick Hartog. I am the president of Grand Meadows. http://www.GrandMeadows.com Grand Meadows manufactures and sells high quality horse supplements made with natural ingredients.

If you are interested in trying any of our products, we are offering a discount and free shipping within the Continental United States. If you go to our website or call us, just use the discount code "gmvideo". http://www.GrandMeadows.com

Many horse owners and vets are increasingly concerned about their horses digestion and colic related symptoms caused by poor nutrient absorption in the horses of all ages which is often combined with environmental stress.

So I thought you would benefit from learning how horses digestive system works and what you can do to improve your horses health and mitigate the risk of these common digestive disorders.

When horses eat, the digestive process starts at the mouth, so one thing to consider is the age of your horse and the condition of his teeth. It is certainly worth having your horses teeth checked and floated by veterinarian when it is necessary because if the teeth wear unevenly the more fibers parts of the diet will not be broken down as efficiently. This is often the case with older horses. I heard a great story about a 31-year-old donkey at a zoo in Japan who was having difficulty eating and was fitted with dentures. Not a practical solution since dentures cost a fortune. So pay attention to your horses teeth.

Once the feed passes into the stomach, it is mixed with various secretions including hydrochloric acid. The feed passes fairly quickly through the stomach but one of the areas we were concerned about were harmful microtoxins which can exist in hay and grain products. Horses do not have the ability like cows to prevent microtoxins from entering their digestive tract. So when we formulated our digestive aid product, Grand Digest, we added a natural ingredient that binds microtoxins so that they pass harmlessly through the body.

Next step is the small intestine. This is where most of the protein, carbohydrates and fats along with most of the vitamins, minerals and amino acids are absorbed. Enzymes are released that digest the various elements then they are absorbed through millions of little nodules called villi. We added a multiple enzyme ingredient called multizyme to Grand Digest, to enhance the enzyme action, and then we added glutamine and amino acid that helps the villi grow and thus improves nutrient absorption.

We then come to the large intestine, where the majority of bacterial digestion takes place. When feed passes into the large intestine, much of these are quite fiberous, and it is then attacked by these good bacteria. The main benefit of this action is the production of volatile fatty acids or VFAs. When VFAs are absorbed after the large intestine and are important source of energy. The large intestine also produces a number of B vitamins as well and is very important for the immune system. Colic is often caused by a breakdown in the digestion of starches in the large intestine. So it is really important to have a healthy bacterial population functioning well.

Most of the digestive products in the market tend to focus on the large intestine with various yeasts that act as probiotics to stimulate and provide nourishment to the bacterial population. In our research, we discovered two issues that caused us to use different ingredients. In many products the probiotics that are used are active dry or living yeasts. After speaking with numerous people with letters after their names (i.e., PHD), we discovered that these types of yeast are unstable and because of that they offer little digestive benefit. Instead in our Grand Digest product, we use shelf-stable, fully fermented yeast called Diamond V that is very beneficial.

Further, we discovered that it was not just the bacteria that were important but also fungi that are actually required for the bacteria to have multiple attachment sites to the fiberous material. These fungi create wound sites that give the bacteria more places to attach to and thus improve the breakdown of fibers. So because of this, we added fungi to Grand Digest in the form of Aspergillus oryzae to compliment the activity of the Diamond V. I hope this piece has clarified a bit about the horses digestive system for you.

If you enjoyed this article, we have videos that we will send to you that explain how to improve your horses health safely and naturally that we can send to you absolutely free. Just tell us where to email them and we'll send them immediately. A number of the world's top riders are using our products and believe me, they have a lot of choices. If you are interested in trying any of our products, we are offering a discount and free shipping within the Continental United States. If you go to our website or call us, just use the discount code "gmvideo". http://www.GrandMeadows.com.