18/07/2023
The importance of the Microbiota in the horse – by Marjolein Joubert
🔴 Colic risk factors:
Why is gut health so important?
There are trillions of bugs in the gastrointestinal system. Here diversity is crucial, the more diverse the microbial population, the healthier the system.
Horses have an incredibly complex digestive tract and rely mainly on the caecum and large intestine to digest plant material. The gut microbes do this job, among other functions.
Gut bugs affect everything: THEY ARE LIFE…. Providing calories and nutrients, but also health, a strong immune system and behavior.
Some of the groups of microbes that are present in the digestive tract: Bacteria, fungi, archae, yeasts, protozoa and viruses – the total community is called intestine microbiota.
In short, the gut bugs are responsible for:
✅ Breaking down food
✅They make vitamins
✅They make chemicals that affect the gut tissue activity
✅ Make chemicals that affect the brain activity and ability to learn.
✅ Stimulate and influence the immune system
✅ Promotion of fat storage
✅ Impact on nerve growth – producing and stimulating chemicals that have an impact on nerves
✅ Impact on bone density and hoof quality
✅ Have an impact on pain perception
✅ They produce hormones that effect the behavior of the horse.
🔴 Where do these gut microbes come from and how are they replenished?
👉 A fetus gets the initial population from the mother
👉 At birth, the most crucial load of microbes is received when passing through the mothers virgina.
👉 The initial colostrum and milk produced by the mare.
👉 From grazing and natural water resources.
👉 Microbes are also transferred from one horse to another when grooming one another and by social interaction.
👉 From various food sources.
👉 Form the soil and being in contact with various environmental factors.
🔴 Factors that upset the microbiota and can cause colic, among many other health and behavior issues:
➡️ Food: a high fiber, low sugar, low starch diet is crucial
Studies have shown, by giving a high starch diet, for instance, can cause the balance in the microbiota to be undesirable and can cause behavior problems.
Giving and incorrect diet, can greatly increase the risk of colic.
➡️ Stress: release of stress hormones such as Cortisol, to name one – persistent production of cortisol causes the tight junction in the gut lining to erode, gut bugs that need to be in the gut where they belong, get in between the cells of the gut lining and cause an inflammatory reaction. This is then replicated throughout the body as an inflammatory response, activating stress even more, causing all sorts of problems.
Stress factors: pain, ill health, fear, being unable to assess and respond to potential threats, social isolation/lack of positive social bonds, frustrations caused by barriers, transportation, environmental changes.
➡️ Gut motility: Horses are designed to move a hoof every 3 to 20 seconds when not in a resting state. The amount a horse is allowed to move naturally has a direct impact on the gut motility and health of the gut bugs. This also has a huge impact on the blood flow to the gut and availability of oxygen and nutrients to the gut bugs. Horses need to move pretty much all the time.
Horse owners keeping horses in a stable yard might not be able to change much of the above factors that cause undesirable gut microbe population and diversity. But here are some of the benefits received when giving Vermate to your domesticated horse.
🔴 Why Vermate is so effective in ensuring gut health:
✔Vermate consist of all the microbial groups necessary for the whole intestinal tract to function at optimal levels. Bacteria, fungi, archae, yeasts, protozoa, viruses, etc. in their natural diverse balance that make up the Microbiota.
✔The humates in Vermate help to suppress the production of cortisol, allowing the horse to cope better with circumstances that cause stress.
✔ Humates help to reduce inflammatory response and heal inflammation in the body.
✔ The diverse microbial population in Vermate replenish the whole intestinal tract on a daily basis, making up for the fact that the horse is not exposed to naturally diverse resources.
✔ Vermate help to reduce above mentioned stress factors:
✔ Help to reduce pain due to faster healing and influence on pain perception.
✔ Increase immune function and strengthen the immune system due to a healthy, diverse microbial population. For example: Some microbes are responsible for “switching” the production of white blood cells in bone marrow on or off.
✔ Some stress factors can’t be eliminated completely from the stabled horse, but the Humates does help the horse cope with the stress much better.
✔ Vermate can’t increase the gut motility caused by restricted movement of the stabled horse, but by ensuring replenishment of diverse gut microbes daily, it reduces the negative impact caused by reduced motility on the health of the gut microbes.
🔴 Credit to Dr Amber Batson for research done on the Microbiota of the equine.
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