It’s a well-established fact that equestrian can be an expensive sport. Think of all the gear for yourself and your horse, the float, the vet bills, the farrier, the feed bill, let alone the cost of actually purchasing the horse. It all adds up and being as cost-effective as possible is the only way many Australians can make it all work.

And so when it comes to forking out your money on these expenses, you want to know that you’re getting bang for your buck. Over your horse’s lifetime, feed is one of the biggest expenses and, no doubt, all owners would like to feel as though they aren’t just literally filling their horses’ mouths with cash and watching it come out the other end. Here are several steps you can take to ensure that your horses are getting every gram of nutrition from every meal that enters their bodies.

THE ‘TELL TAIL’ SIGNS

Let’s face the potential problem head-on… quite literally at the head. After all, this is where feed will enter your horse’s body. Your horse’s teeth go through a lot of wear and tear in their life, and those chompers play an important role in kick-starting the digestive process.

Hygain nutritionist Holly Mills is an expert on the inner workings of a horse’s digestive tract and knows all the areas where it can go wrong. “Teeth are super important,” says Holly, “especially in older horses. We want to make sure that they’re able to chew whatever they’re eating, whether that’s hard feed with supplements or roughage. It starts the breakdown process, adds saliva, and is important to ensure the horse is able to eat sufficient roughage. Gut fill is important for overall digestive health.

“Another area to look at would be if they’re not putting on condition or weight but you’re feeding them heaps of food,” continues Holly. “That should tell you that the digestive tract isn’t absorbing or working the way that it should. Even their coat condition can be a great indication. If you’re feeding them quality feed and all the coat supplements in the world, but they’re still not shiny, that tells you that again they’re not absorbing everything as well as they should be.

“Also, if your horse is particularly gassy, that can mean that the hindgut isn’t very happy and you may need to look at the microbes in there. They may have an overgrowth of gas-producing, more negative bacteria back there.”

While some issues can be tricky to diagnose, especially when they lie beneath the surface and there aren’t obvious signs, there is another very ‘regular’ indicator of your horse’s gut health… or ‘not regular’, as it may be. Yes, it’s time to get down and dirty and take a close look at your horse’s number twos.

“You’ll also need to take a look at their manure,” says Holly. “Is it super watery? That will give you a good indication that they’re not absorbing the way that they should be and their digestive system needs a little bit of extra help. Or is it a bit too solid? Seeing whole particles in there like grain hulls and similar things in the manure isn’t necessarily bad, it just means it hasn’t been fully broken down by the horse. What you should be generally seeing is something that’s quite broken down, that looks like classic manure which is a good indication of your horse’s health.”

DEEPER THAN THE SURFACE

So, you’ve identified that there may be an issue with your horse’s gut health or you feel as though they aren’t getting everything they should be from their feed. What now? Well, bringing in a professional can certainly help matters, but if the problem doesn’t require urgent medical attention, there are other things you can do. “Sometimes when the digestive tract isn’t working its best, it’s not super obvious. But if you do suspect something within the digestive tract isn’t quite right, you can definitely look at adding a supplement to aid in fixing the issue,” explains Holly.

There are many supplements on the market, but a brand new, exciting product has just been released that can be thought of as an everything-in-one supplement to help your horse’s gut get back on track. Hygain has been working on this product for a while and is excited to share it with the equestrian community. “Digest & Protect was designed to be exactly what it seems,” explains Holly. “It helps with the horse’s digestive system and actually protects the digestive system as well, from start to finish. For a small product, we’ve got a lot going on in there. It’s been working really well so far and we’re super happy with it.

“When we looked at the whole range of digestive products that are currently in the market, which there are plenty of, we found that there wasn’t really one that did it all,” continues Holly. “So we wanted something that really did support digestion and protect the system. I tend to explain it by going through the horse’s digestive system, starting from the mouth. Digest & Protect contains aniseed which is in there really as a flavour and horses love liquorice. But aniseed has also traditionally been used to support digestive issues in the past, so that’s why it’s been chosen.

“From there, you move into the horse’s stomach. We’ve added red seaweed extract, which contains a concentrated source of calcium, and has got a honeycomb-like structure so it’s actually a really good acid buffer. Buffering that acid protects vulnerable parts of the stomach from potential damage. Then also for the stomach, the product contains slippery elm which contains mucilage properties that act as a coating agent to protect any damage that might already exist but also prevents any future damage from occurring.

“Then we move into the small intestine. We’ve added digestive enzymes, which are able to help support the horse’s natural digestive enzymes that break down the feed. This is where we start to get into that nutrient absorption area. We’re wanting to break down as much as we possibly can out of our feed and extract as much as we possibly can in the small intestine.

“And then you move into the horse’s hindgut, which is where we’ve added the pre- and probiotics. A prebiotic prevents pathogens from inhabiting, and it keeps it nice and healthy in there, while also supporting those other live microbes that are living there too. A probiotic is actually a live yeast that’s able to inhabit the hindgut area and help improve fibre fermentation. It really stabilises that hindgut environment, which is an area of the horse that is super important for overall health and wellbeing. It’s where your horse is creating most of its energy, but also vitamins and minerals for itself and protein as well. It’s super important to keep that environment nice and stable because if we upset that hindgut environment, that’s when you can run into trouble with things like colic and other really horrendous things like laminitis.

“From an entire digestive point of view, we’ve got a mycotoxin binder in there to track and expel mycotoxins, which can affect horses in lots of different ways, but often present as ulcer-like symptoms. We’ve also added curcumin, which is the active extract from turmeric, and it also contains glutamine and threonine, which are two amino acids that are involved in cell regeneration and mucus production. With the addition of those, we’re really just making sure that the horse has got enough of those amino acids to be able to do those two things, which is obviously important for digestive tract health.”

HAPPY GUT = HAPPY HORSE

A lot is going on with so much packed into one product, but does it actually work? With so many of their products backed by science, Hygain is all about trialling and getting a product just right before releasing it to the greater equestrian community. “We’ve been running a few trials [on Digest & Protect] and we’re seeing that most people will see a change in their horse within about three weeks,” explains Holly. “I tend to recommend people go on it for four weeks before they really expect a difference, but most people see a difference sooner. You can use it as a bit of a trial and error. If you put Digest & Protect into your horse’s diet, and you can see things are really improving, it’s definitely something that you can continue with.

“It is suitable for horses right across the board. I think particularly for performance horses, it’s a great option because we do really want them working as efficiently as possible. Also, for young horses that might be struggling with scours or something like that, this is a great option to support their tract and set them up for success in the future as well. It will help make sure that they’ve got a well-populated gut that is working properly right off the bat. And don’t forget about pregnant mares who really do need that little bit of extra support while they’re in foal and afterwards. The digestive system of older horses will also slow down a little bit, so you can add Digest & Protect to their feed to help them along.”

Although it’s only been on the market for a matter of weeks, Protect & Digest has also been making its way into the stables of high-level riders. “We had a couple of our sponsored riders trial it and even horses that we thought were happy and healthy have responded really well to it,” says Holly.

Eventer Hannah Klep has introduced Digest & Protect to her 5-year-old coloured warmblood Kenlock Sandro Sky, or Milo as she fondly calls him. “I opened the tub of Hygain’s Digest & Protect and my first thought was hooray it smells nice! Finding a quality gut supplement that doesn’t have an odd smell is a hard task these days and life becomes even harder when you have a fussy eater like my young horse Milo,” explains Hannah.

“Within 3 weeks of feeding digest and protect, Milo’s behaviour improved. He became more relaxed and was far happier under saddle. When out at competitions Milo’s manure can become quite watery due to nerves. Digest & Protect has helped this issue which I am beyond excited about! Milo’s body condition and weight has increased while his coat is absolutely glowing; a healthy gut really shows on the outside. Thank you Hygain for creating this awesome product, bring on the 2022 eventing season!”

The product has also become a popular choice in the office of Hygain itself. “One of our staff members has a horse that really struggles to put on weight and has always had cowpat-like manure. She put him on it and, all of a sudden, he’s put on weight, his manure is normal and she said she didn’t even realise that he fully had an issue. I thought my off-the-track thoroughbred was also fine. He was happy, healthy, normal weight, normal manure, but I put him on it and he changed colour! He was a light bay and now he’s basically a brown. And I thought, wow, he’s staying on it forever.

“A lot of the horses seemed okay, but maybe not their best. Now that they’ve tried it, they’re really stepping up in their overall health. Even a few horses who were acting frisky have now settled down too. They might look okay from the outside, but it’s really what is going on inside that counts. And if we can optimise that, we tend to find that it really does have a behavioural change within our horses, which is quite special.” EQ

You can find out more about Hygain Digest & Protect here.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE TO READ:

Finding the Way Back to the Saddle – Equestrian Life, February 2021

Electrolytes: Getting Out What You Put In – Equestrian Life, January 2021

A Good Gut Feeling for Performance Horses – Equestrian Life, December 2021

Gary’s Guide to Building Lean Muscle – Equestrian Life, November, 2021

In a Bind: The Role of Toxin Binders – Equestrian Life, October, 2021

Hold Your Horses: Feeding for Coolness – Equestrian Life, September, 2021

The Importance of Vitamin K – Equestrian Life, August, 2021