The Equine Digestive System
To understand the nutritional needs of horses, we first need to understand the digestive system; its structures and its differences from other herbivorous animals particularly cows.
Why do we need this comparison? Because many pastures and hay/haylage producing are managed with meat and milk production in mind.
The horse’s digestive system is unique in that it digests food enzymatically in the foregut and by ferment
ation in the hindgut. For simplicity lets divided the digestive system into two sections. The first section includes the ‘monogastric’ or single stomach, making it more like the foregut of dogs, pigs and even humans. In contrast, other herbivorous animals like cows and sheep are ruminants. They have multi-compartment stomachs where digestion is predominantly by fermentation rather than by enzymes.
In the second section of the equine gut (everything after the stomach) digestion is predominately by fermentation. Billions of microbes including bacteria, protozoa, fungi and viruses make up the gut microbiome which is mainly in the hindgut.
These fundamental differences between horses and ruminants’ impact on their nutritional requirements. These factors need careful consideration when feeding our horses and even more so with the management of their pastures.
Food for thought
Next time you look at your horses field, consider what management systems are in place. Are the pastures suitable for the equine gut, or are they managed with meat or milk production in mind? Can changes be made to the pasture to encourage a greater diversity of herbs for natural selection? Can artificial fertilizers and herbicides be reduced or better still stopped completely? The importance of improving pasture management will be discussed in future blogs.