Microbes in your horse's gut

25 February 2022

These are the vital part in the breakdown of forage into nutrition in the horse. There are trillions of them! And the greater the variety, the better. Forages support good gut microbes but preservatives, antibiotics, starchy, highly processed and sugary foods can all reduce the variety and increase the �bad� microbes. Pasture often contains a wide range of plants as well as grass and is after all what horses evolved to eat. Replacing this with hay when grazing is not available is good but often hay or haylage is only one or a very few different types of grass and possibly varieties bred for volume not quality. What goes in the feed bowl can make a huge difference to the microbes. Not only are they vital for turning fibre from forage into nutrition, but they also make the horse�s B group vitamins, vitamin K and contribute up to 80% of immunity. At Simple System we strive to support these important organisms with a good range of suitable forages. Our latest addition has been sainfoin, a nutritious forage plant with lots of benefits to the environment as well as to horses. Sainfoin Pellets are fed soaked and provide valuable nutrition for sensitive, picky, fussy and needy horses as well as those requiring an additional forage in their ration. Sainfoin Brix are great for the horse to gnaw on and provide environmental enrichment as well as good nutrition. Soak one of these in 5 litres of water to make a tasty chop to add bulk to short feed. We continue to strive to bring the very best forages to your horses and work closely with our farmer partners to ensure that not only we get the best, but it is produced ethically and with support for the environment as well.