Adding prebiotics and probiotics on a daily basis to an equine feeding program is an inexpensive insurance policy that
lowers the risk of colic and other metabolic issues that can occur in horses. The life cycle of these microbes within the gut
is around 15 minutes, and therefore, it’s easy to change the population very quickly, and that can be a recipe for disaster.
Almost every day in the domestic horse’s life, something occurs that causes the microbial population in the gut to shift
in the wrong direction, which can increase the numbers of “bad”microbes and lower the number of “good” ones. The
vet comes to vaccinate, the farrier has to dig out an abscess, a new load of hay arrives that is different from the last, a
horse gets the wrong feed or has to travel to a show. All of these types of events cause digestive stress and disruption of
the microbes in the hindgut. By adding the “good”microbes daily through supplementation, the odds of the “bad” ones
having much effect are minimized.
Prebiotics and Probiotics:
Microbes in the equine hindgut (cecum and colon) are required to help break down and ferment the fibrous portion of hay and feed into products called
volatile fatty acids that can then be used by the horse to produce energy, milk production and other bodily functions.
B vitamins and other nutrients essential to the health and well-being of the animal are also formed through the actions of the microbial populations.
Because of the major role microbes play in digestion of feeds, it is essential that the microbial population of the hindgut be healthy and their numbers
and ratios be at appropriate levels for proper digestion.
Many horse owners feed supplements or commercial feeds containing some of these essential microbes. The idea behind feeding these is to keep the
hindgut stabilized.
Adding probiotics on a daily basis can be helpful. High-end feed manufacturers put these in most of their commercial feed products, and you can find
them listed on the feed label.
Why Adding ThemDaily to the Equine Diet is Important
The most beneficial probiotic for horses is a live, equine origin probiotic; one that contains organisms cultured from
the equine digestive tract. Not all probiotics are created equal. Unless they complement what’s in the horse’s digestive
tract (and not a cow’s digestive tract) and are alive, they don’t work. Prebiotics help to feed and maintain the health and
sustain the life of the probiotics. The prebiotic is not actually part of the microbe population but is beneficial to enhance
the quality of the microbe population that’s there.
Prebiotics are non-digestible foods that make their way through the digestive tract and help the good bacteria grow and flourish, keeping the good
bacteria healthy.
Prebiotics that assist beneficial bacteria in the gut mostly come from carbohydrate fiber called oligosaccharides.
They are not digested, so the oligosaccharides remain in the digestive tract and stimulate growth of beneficial bacteria.
Sources of oligosaccharides include fruits, legumes and whole grains. For example, a prebiotic could contain part of the carbohydrate that’s in the wall of
a yeast cell. This section of the yeast cell wall is called a mannan oligosaccharide.
Pre- and probiotics are very useful in helping to keep the equine digestive tract
correctly populated with good microbes and functioning at an optimum level.
Dr. Amy M. Gill is an equine nutritionist based in Lexington, Kentucky and Boynton Beach, Florida. Dr. Gill specializes
in nutritional therapeutic solutions for horses affected by exercise, growth, metabolic and immune-related disorders.
She can be reached at 859-967-3307 or
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