Healthy gut, Healthy Horse. The title of Part 3 of Professor Meriel Moore Colyer’s 4 part nutrition series hosted by Horses Inside Out.
Another jam packed presentation, this time focused on the horse’s microbiota, microbiome and endocrine & metabolic effects.
In this presentation Meriel asks us to consider how quickly what we feed travels through the digestive system and where it will be digested to know what effect it will have on our horse. Knowledge of the equine digestive system and how is works is key to this, and where I would point you back to Part 1 of the series - Feed the Need.
Owning a metabolic horse and a horse with PPID myself, I have been really excited about this webinar.
Did you know that horses with Insulin Dysregulation, Adiposity, PPID or Systemic Inflammation (Laminitis) have different gut microbiome compared with normal, lean horses?
And poor diversity in the microbiome not only causes gastrointestinal issues but also increases susceptibility to respiratory conditions and soft tissue/orthopaedic conditions.
The microbiome is also affected by stress, it has been found that horses doing the same discipline at the same level within the discipline, have similar microbiome as it is affected by the level of stress and the type of stress.
But what is Insulin Dysregulation (ID) / Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS)?
Meriel explains in great detail, here is a snippet of what she shared with us:
ID/EMS is an inability to regulate insulin or an insensitivity to insulin. If there are high levels of glucose in the body due to feeding high levels of WSC or starch, the body creates more and more insulin.
Insulin is a hormone created by the body to lay down the glucose from the diet into the muscles & liver as glycogen which is used for energy production. In a normal horse, after eating, you would see a spike in glucose, followed by a spike in insulin and then a return to normal levels as the body has used the insulin to store the glucose away in the muscles to use for exercise.
However, if there is constant high levels of glucose & insulin in the body, this can create hyperinsulinemia, where the body starts to over produce insulin, and as that progresses you then get insulin insensitivity, where no matter how much insulin the body is producing, it’s not actually laying down the glucose as glycogen and this is where you will have a case of EMS.
High blood glucose will cause laminitis as vasoconstrictors reduce blood flow to the hooves. Along with this process there is also a decrease in the production of incretin hormones. These hormones are secreted by the lower gut help process sugar, meaning that more sugar will be passed into the blood stream instead of being processed in the gut.
Added to this we also get leptin resistance, which is the hormone that tells you when to stop eating. If a horse is leptin resistant it will overeat. The higher the level of glucose, the less the body utilises leptin, the more it wants to eat, and therefore more high glucose; a vicious circle.
I was so pleased to have this explanation from Meriel, understanding this process and how the horse’s body works really helps me to make sense of the condition.
Causes of ID/EMS include:
· Over feeding (mainly too much sugar & starch)
· High glucose in the blood = diabetic reactions
· PPID/Cushings
· Systemic inflammation / Laminitis
· Stress
Once a horse has had a laminitic episode it will from then on be predisposed to having future episodes due to a change in starch processing enzymes in their microbiome. The profile of microbes changes and the starch processing enzymes are there in much higher numbers than in a non laminitic horse. Laminitis has also been shown to cause the horse to be more excitable, they have a lot going on in the body in terms of stress but the main thing is the compromised hind gut fermentation.
But what is it that compromises digestion, leading to metabolic issues?
High starch meals i.e concentrates or forage with a high WSC e.g perennial rye grass can cause a glucose peak in the horse. Even small amounts of starch as low as 1g starch per kilo weight of your horse can cause hindgut dysbiosis and undesirable changes in the faecal microbial profile.
What can we do about it?
Diet – remove all cereals & high energy feed. Forage & balancer only. Slow the intake rate to increase foraging time, using slow feeder hay nets or a slow feeder such as the Haygain Forager.
If you can, buy a hay that is less than 10% WSC (water soluble carbohydrate), if you can’t do that try mixing your hay with straw. Soaking the straw can soften it and make it easier to eat. Soaking hay for 12 hours will reduce the WSC further. You can always steam after soaking to reduce bacteria.
Educating ourselves about equine nutrition More exercise - start slowly, remember the horse’s body is stressed, his lungs are probably under stress from carrying excess weight and his legs will also be under stress.
Reduce stress - did you know that individually kept horses have a less healthy microbiome than those kept in a herd or with a companion? Giving your horse turnout, companions, opportunities for mutual grooming, enrichment in their stable or paddock, can all help reduce cortisol levels.
Medications are available – Steglatro can inhibit the kidneys from taking up glucose, so it is then secreted in the urine. This has been used in humans too but it can make the user (horse or human) susceptible to urinary tract infections.
ID/EMS is not the only condition that Meriel discusses in this webinar, you can also learn more about EGUS (Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome), PPID (also known as Cushings), Laminitis and much more in-depth information about feeding in general for a healthy microbiome.
I just wanted to share this part as it resonates so much for me with my own horses.
I highly recommend taking a look at this Equine Nutrition series.
Next time I will be sharing with you more about Part 4 in the series Nutrition Nurtures Everything, on the topic of ‘Supplements, Additives, Balancers - What do you really need?’
Thank you for visiting my blog
Jess
Hozzászólások